Pebbles
by Sunnepho
Summary: A series of vignettes and ficlets. Various pairings and gen, majority of which are X and A. Details included before each fic. Just for fun. 'Cause, you know, who reads them? ... Strange, it's turned into something with a plot.
1. One for the Road

Xena & Co. belong to someone who is definitely not me. Believe me. I would know.

A series of vignettes/ficlets. Because I said so.

Various pairings and gen, details included before each fic. Note: Majority are X/A. I'm set in my ways, sorry.

General rating: R. Here be swearing and mature situations.

* * *

1. **One for the Road **  
4 May 2006  
pairing - X/G. Complete crack. Do not take seriously.

* * *

"Wanna have some fun, Blondie?" A trio of ruffians surrounded Gabrielle, looking as ruffian-like as ruffians can be. If they were to be given a score for ruffian-ness, they'd receive bonus points.

"You better watch where you're putting that hand, or my girlfriend's going to give you such an ass-whupping."

Now they were leering, too. "Oh yeah? And where's your big tough girlfriend? Ooh, ooh! I bet it's Xena, right? Look at me shake, boys."

Laughing uproariously at his own joke, the man turned when he felt as tap on his shoulder.

"X—x—x—x—" he managed to stutter before his teeth were knocked out.

Frozen to the spot with a tell-tale puddle spreading around their feet, the remaining two watched Gabrielle bounce up to Xena and wrap herself around the warrior like a human pretzel.

"Aww, thanks, sweetie!" she chirped. "See, I told you she was going to beat you up. Isn't she amazing?"

Xena had turned pink by then.

"She's stronger than ten men, you know. Isn't that right, sugarplum? And gods, let me tell you, in bed--"

Okay, definitely embarrassed now.

"Uh, Gabrielle, why don't you go get Argo for me? There's something... tavern... I'll be right there."

"Okay, honey!"

Xena escaped to the dim shelter of the bar. She ordered something strong, pressing a hand to her cheek in hopes of cooling it down.

She downed the drink and jumped when the abominably loud call "Xeeeeeeeeeeeeeena!" hit her from behind. Coughing, she felt the burn of liquid down her windpipe.

"Another?" suggested the bartender sympathetically.

"Yeah."

She threw that one back equally quickly against the backdrop of "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarling..." and stumbled out of the tavern.

Gabrielle smirked when she knew Xena couldn't see her face. That'll teach her to use my scrolls.


	2. Domestic Bliss

2. **Domestic Bliss **  
4 May 2006  
pairing - X/A, OOC

"Xena?" Ares stared at her from the doorway. "Why are you standing in that corner?"

"I just mopped the floor 'cause I spilled some pickle brine, and if I step on it while it's wet, I'll make a print."

"You mopped yourself into a corner?"

"That's what I just said," she snapped a bit testily.

"Wouldn't it be better to mop towards an end of the kitchen so you could step out?"

"Shut up."

"What about dinner?" Absentmindedly, Ares stepped into the kitchen and reached for the coffee pot.

"Wait, wait!"

Too late. Ares lifted his foot and was greeted by a big, black print on the sparkling tiles.

"Fuck."

Xena crossed her arms angrily. "I told you. I don't do housewife."

"Yeah... I'll hire a housekeeper tomorrow."

She crossed the room and leaned in for a kiss, leaving prints.


	3. Rumours

3. **Rumours**  
4 May 2006  
X/A

They didn't dare stare and whisper when she was with him. They were too much in awe of him to think anything wrong of him. He was their god, after all. But at times like these, she walked alone down the long halls, ignoring the murmur behind her. 

She was covered in blood, too tall by half, and, gods forbid, had messy hair. Why their god bothered with the likes of her was unconscionable.

Bah. It'd be too much trouble to kill them all. She was tired.

She pushed open the door without knocking, and there he was. He looked up, smiling when he saw her, and she knew that was why she endured the whispers.

He looked so edible in that studded vest. She reached out, pushing her fingers through his curls, and brought his mouth up to meet hers. She tugged at his trousers, and when he lifted his hips in compliance, the priestesses scurried out, shooting each other scandalized looks.

She settled herself into his lap, and he breathed a tiny moan into her mouth. "Xena..."

He never smiled like that for anyone else.


	4. Stargazing

4. **Stargazing**   
4 May 2006  
X/G

Gabrielle sighed contentedly, her head comfortably pillowed on Xena's breast. Her hand lightly, lazily stroked down Xena's side as she enjoyed the feel of bare skin on skin.

"Gabrielle?"

"Yeah?" She loved the way she could feel the rumble of Xena's voice.

"What did you like doing the most when you were little?"

This was rare, Xena asking questions like this.

"Don't you mean 'whom'?"

"Pfft." Xena covered Gabrielle's wicked grin with her lips. "That's not funny."

Gabrielle stretched and rolled onto her back. "Well, I guess I spent a lot of time looking at the stars with Lila. Remember that one I showed you that looks like a bear? Well, she always thinks it looks more like a butterfly."

"Mm... I still think it looks like one of those water dippers."

"Says you." Gabrielle's hand wandered over Xena's stomach and drifted lower.

"Ah, Gabrielle..."

"Yeah?"

"Mm... Nothing."


	5. Two for a Dime

5. **Two for a Dime**   
4 May 2006  
G/Joxer

Gabrielle passed the wine flask back to Joxer, watching pensively while he took a swig.

"Um, Joxer?"

"Mmhmm?"

"You know Jace?"

"My brother?"

"Yeah. Is he... um... you know?"

"Huh?"

"Er." Red-faced, Gabrielle's hands weaved through the air while she searched for words. "You know. Does he... like guys?"

"Uh," Joxer said, scratching under the flaps of his helmet, "Well, I'd think so. He drinks with them a lot. Mudfights, too. They watch a lot of mudfights."

"Nono, that's not what I mean. I mean, does he, you know..."

"Huh?"

"Does he... sleep with guys?"

"Oh! Yeah, we had to share a bed for years since there weren't enough, and Jett kicks in his sleep."

Gabrielle let her head thud against the table.

"Oh, do you mean, like, have sex with them? Yeah, sure. Sometimes. We try to get him not to bring them home, of course, but he always says they just followed him in. Girls, too."

Gabrielle thought quietly for a while.

"Joxer?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you a virgin when we... you know?"


	6. Burn

6. **Burn**   
4 May 2006  
X/Callisto. Kinda. Erm, let's assume that Xena was at Cirra that day. Interesting. I'm already becoming thoroughly fed up with this upload system.

Callisto rocked herself on her heels absentmindedly, stroking the jagged scar on her face every so often. Her blank eyes didn't see the dim stone walls of her prison; they saw her.

Gods, she was beautiful. That first day, first meeting, she had been too terrified, but she would never forget that sight. Her horse didn't rear theatrically. She didn't pose against the bright blue sky like an avenging goddess. Her sword couldn't shine through the blood and strips of flesh clinging to it.

She was beautiful dressed in blood.

Callisto closed her eyes, remembering the sensuous path a drizzle of blood traced down her temple, her cheek. Callisto wanted to see her again.

She would cut herself for Xena, paint her blood across Xena's beautiful smooth skin.

She would cut Xena to see the drops of red bleed out like tears and trace the contours of that body.

She would lap it up, drinking the metallic taste of the blood and the warm taste of Xena's body.

Gods, she was beautiful in blood.


	7. Big Bad Wolf

7. **Big Bad Wolf**  
6 May 2006  
X/A-ish, gen

He didn't believe it at first when he heard that Xena had a son. Miss high and fucking mighty warrior mummy herself.

It wasn't hard to find the boy; all he had to do was threaten to knock over enough of Hera's temples, and the patron goddess of childbirth was more than biddable.

The kid looked up from the tiny frog he'd been chasing when Ares appeared directly in front of him. He shook his shock of blond hair from his eyes and his mouth dropped open. He almost stank of curiosity.

Ares squatted down and watched the boy solemnly, ignoring the smudges of dirt on his small round cheeks.

"You're Solan, right?"

Nod.

"Do you want to come with me, Solan?"

Hesitate. Shake.

"Why not? Look, I'll give you this." Ares pulled out a small, decorated dagger. "I'll make you so strong that you can beat up all the big boys in the village."

Surprisingly quick hands latched onto a few of Ares' curls and gave a hard yank before the child turned and ran towards the village, where Kaleipus was calling Solan for dinner.

"OW! You little--"

Ares knew he should take the boy to gain the control he desired over Xena. He _should_ blast the brat where he stood. As he straightened up, watching the small form recede, he knew that he couldn't do it, and he was terrified.


	8. The Champion

8. **The Champion **  
6 May 2006  
Gen

The traders' caravan pulled into Poteidaia amid shouts of welcome and excitement. Gabrielle could not possibly keep still, as her mother instructed. Her mother's admonitions had become increasingly inhumane, Gabrielle decided, ever since her mother told her that she was going to have a little brother or sister. She walked slowly everywhere now, a hand on her big belly. Gabrielle took four steps for each of her mother's, running back and forth around her mother's skirt.

She stopped suddenly, her attention caught by the black-haired girl carrying a basket nearly as tall as she out of a wagon, followed by a blond boy who looked like he was Gabrielle's age.

Without a thought, she followed them. The girl put down the basket carefully and collapsed against it theatrically. Gabrielle giggled and peeked into the basket.

"Ick," she said. "Fishes."

"Hey, what're ya doin here?" The blond boy frowned at her.

"I live here. What're you doin here?"

Before the boy could respond, a big boy that looked like he was almost _twelve_ standing near the next wagon reached out and pinched him on the arm.

"Aaaaoooowaaooo!" wailed the smaller boy, clutching at his arm, but the other boy had already run a bit away and picked up a big sack, pretending that he'd been holding the sack the whole time.

Gabrielle took in a big breath, ready to yell that she saw the big boy doing the pinching, when a dark-haired blur zeroed in and gave that boy a punch that knocked him onto the ground with blood running out of his nose.

"Xena!" A lady with curly brown hair grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her away towards the wagon.

Before the girl disappeared into the back of the wagon, she turned a bit and looked at Gabrielle, her clear blue eyes glowing and a triumphant grin on her mouth.

They shared a roll of the eyes that said, "Parents."


	9. Potshot

**9. Potshot**   
11 May 2006  
Gen

A couple of daggers whizzed past his head, and he was sure he saw a hank of black curls tumble to the ground.

He threw himself to the ground to avoid the long javelin, and took a rolling leap out of the path of an ornate broadsword.

The chakram came next, whistling as it passed. He turned to see it ricochet off a pillar and head for his throat again. With what he'd vehemently deny as a girly scream, he ran.

God of War or no, he was never going to laugh when a certain warrior princess's line snaps and loses a catch again.


	10. Aphrodisiac

10. **Aphrodisiac**   
11 May 2006  
Gen. Because how did Gabrielle know what chocolate smelled like in Punchlines?

"What's that?" Gabrielle eyed the small brown pieces arranged artistically on the small plate.

"Chocolate," Aphrodite replied, as if the answer was entirely obvious. "One of the best ideas you mortals will ever have. Total aphrodisiac, you know."

"Looks like turds."

Aphrodite pressed a hand to her bosom, as insulted as if Gabrielle had told her that her outfit was out of style. "I'm just trying to be nice and give you something you'd like for Me Day!"

"You day?"

"You know? Candy? Flowers? Show your appreciation for the ones you love?"

Gabrielle's face was as blank as ever. "What does that have to do with these bloody turds?"

Aphrodite sighed and waved a perfectly-groomed hand, and the pieces seemed to flow together and meld into the form of a rabbit with a pathetically cute expression.

Gabrielle gave a strangled cry and stabbed her sais through the rabbit's head with enough force to drive them through the plate.

The goddess of love blinked and said, "Maybe I should have tried a puppy."


	11. Aniki

11. **Aniki**   
11 May 2006  
X/A

Toris wasn't pleased when his little sister came home one day with a man. A hulking, warrior-type with squeaky black leather pants tucked into squeaky black leather boots, all under a squeaky godsdamned black leather vest.

He wasn't pleased at all when his little sister poured the brute a mug of ale, laughing and talking in her soft, husky drawl, looking into his smirking, pretty-boy face. She reached out and brushed a leaf out of his hair with disturbing familiarity and ease.

When she headed into the kitchen, Toris took the chance to approach the man. He grabbed the edges of his vest just under his neck, and pulled him forward so that his arrogant little face was close enough to let him hiss, "You little prick, if I ever hear from anyone that you did anything to make my sister upset, I'm going to tie your balls to a tree with your fancy-looking belt and let her chakram your balls into next year."

Relaxing outwardly, but keeping his cold blue eyes trained in a glare on the man, Toris backed out of the way when Xena returned.

"Let's go, Ares," she said, taking hold of the man's hand. She half-turned as she walked and said, "Toris, tell mom I'll be back in a couple of hours."

He tried to remember how to nod as his knees buckled, and the God of War glanced at him and shrugged before being dragged out the door by his little sister.


	12. Rain Doesn't Touch a God

12. **Rain Doesn't Touch A God**   
11 May 2006  
X/A, post-FIN

She should have told him before she left.

She should have come and teased him about his inability to deny his sister anything, no matter how embarrassing.

She should have messed up his hair again so that he'd glare and fix it obsessively, and then force him to gag down another of her terrible meals.

She should have told him that she was going to get on a boat with a godsforsaken, dickless bald guy with some sob story or other, and then not come back.

She should have let him steal another kiss, even if she was going to act like she didn't expect it, didn't want it.

She should have said goodbye.

Ares stood on the cliff where he thought he'd lost her once and turned his head up into the rain falling from the black, lifeless sky. The water ran down his face in small, cold streams, clinging to his lashes and collecting before dripping to the ground below.

He closed his eyes and pretended that he wasn't crying.


	13. Touch

13. **Touch**  
19 May 2006  
X/G  
bloody angst. now i'm depressed.

She was crying again.

Xena sat up in her bedroll and reached out her hand, nearly touching the shaking form beside her. It was always the same nightmare. She would thrash fitfully, kicking off her blankets, and then she would curl up and cry into her arms.

They said that they'd forgiven each other in a half-remembered hallucination of song and hard, choking water, but she still cried.

She only cried at night, after the soft touches, the heady passion, the promise that it was over. In the morning, she would smile that bright smile, but Xena saw the red in her eyes.

Xena would touch her this time, pull her into a tight embrace, kiss her, and fix it all.

Her hand shook, nearly touching the trembling shape next to her.


	14. No Comment

14. **No Comment**  
20 May 2006 (technically)  
Gen

"Ares! Ares! Over here! Is it true that you just lost a sparring match with Xena, the Warrior Princess?"

"Did you take it easy on her because of lingering fondness from the years in which she was your protégée?"

"Fondness? Forget fondness! It was L-O-V-E, right, Ares?"

"Do you still have secret romantic rendezvous on her birthday?"

"Did you really father a hundred children during the Trojan War?"

"Is it true that you wear size 16 shoes?"

"Ares? Do you have anything to say to your adoring public?"

Ares turned. He drew in a deep breath, and the entire crowd of reporters leaned forward in anticipation, microphones extended as far as possible.

"Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck are you talking about?"


	15. Wearing the Pants

15. **Wearing the Pants**  
21 May 2006  
X/A  
er, 'cause people seem to have a thing for domestic A/X?

"--Oh, come on, you can find forty different angles of that shot on the internet already. His hand was obviously hit after he released the ball. The foul had no effect on his ability; if he didn't make the shot, it was his fault alone."

"Since when are you such an expert at judging human behaviour? I'm the psychologist, Xena. Don't you think that seeing two hundred pounds of sweaty opponent bearing down on him produced _some_ sort of stress?"

"The court is a battlefield, Gabrielle. You lose focus facing aggression, and with luck you'd only be assigned to warm the bench for the rest of the season."

The lock clicked, and the door opened. Xena and Gabrielle stepped into the living room, where Ares sat, leaning on the armrest of the couch and picking at his worn jeans.

"Hey," Xena greeted, and set her grocery bags on a counter. "I got the stuff you wanted."

"Great," Ares said absently. "I'll get started on the roast soon."

"He's cooking?" Gabrielle's mouth dropped open.

Xena's eyes widened in response. "What's the alternative?"

"Forget I asked."

"Exactly." Xena swatted Ares's hand away from a particularly long thread hanging from a ragged tear. "What's with you?"

Ares looked up, his eyes a blaze of fury. "Ian left Janet for Athena."

Xena made an "O" of sympathy.

"I knew that feckless mound of mouseshit wasn't good for her. She should have known better than to associate with any son of Apollo. He even _looks_ like that blond freak. And Janet ends up being such a wimp about it, too. Fuck, she needs to defend herself more. You'd think you mortals have forgotten _why_ we gave you nails and teeth. If I could just train her for one day..."

Xena caught Gabrielle's look of complete bewilderment. She pushed a couple of wayward curls up off his rage-furrowed forehead.

"His soap," she explained.

i'm sorry. i couldn't resist. ... sorry.


	16. The Natural Enemy

**16. The Natural Enemy**  
22 May 2006  
X/G  
topic is overdone, but i figured X and G ought to be domestic once in a while, as well.

Xena leaned awkwardly outside the little stall, from which emanated the grunts and muttered curses indicative of a woman trying on new clothes.

She cleared her throat. "Done yet?" It'd been ten minutes last time she checked.

"No... I've--ugh--almost... got it--shit."

"Gabrielle? You alive in there?" She made a mental note never to offer to buy Gabrielle a new dress again.

"Er, I think I'm stuck."

"Stuck? How the--"

"Skip the lecture and just help me out here, why don't you?"

"Fine, fine, I'm coming in."

Xena slipped inside and eyed the contorted figure. "I think you've put your arms through the collar. Here, turn around." She carefully unhooked the fabric and pulled it around until a blonde head was visible. She watched while Gabrielle found the sleeves and finished dressing.

Gabrielle looked up while smoothing the skirt down properly. "What are you looking at?"

Unperturbed, Xena continued her slow perusal of Gabrielle's flushed face and messy hair. "You look nice," Xena said. Her lips, darker than usual.

Xena leaned down.

And she jumped at the sound of a loud cough directly behind her.

She backed out of the cubicle hastily, and Gabrielle hurriedly explained, "She was just helping me with this dress."

"Right." The salesclerk continued to glare.

When Gabrielle made her choice, Xena rushed her to the checkout. After she paid the snob behind the counter, she felt a hand on her arm.

Gabrielle smiled at her and said, "Thank you, Xena. I love it."

Maybe this shopping thing wasn't that bad.


	17. Faults

**17. Faults**  
22 May 2006  
X/A - pure fluff. puuuuuure fluff.

If Xena had a fault, well, besides the obvious one of blaming herself for everything, it was that she couldn't say "No," especially not to brown-haired, blue-eyed teenagers who pout and call her "Auntie Xena."

Ares saw her leaning on one the bigger trees in that patented Xena I'm-bored-as-fuck-but-if-I-see-something-I-don't-like-watch-your-teeth-fall-out slouch. She was wearing some sort of frilly red dress, something Thera probably forced onto her. He had no idea how, after a twenty-five year gap, she found her brother again. Then again, how does she do anything? Thera was Toris's daughter, now eighteen, and this was her wedding.

He noticed the flash of relief in her eyes when she looked up and saw him approaching.

"Nice threads," he said.

She mimed laughing sarcastically.

He glanced around. The happy couple and their friends were in the big clearing, dancing in that jerky fashion young humans were so fond of lately.

"Wanna dance?" he asked.

She looked bewildered, but didn't resist when he took her hand and led her away from the tree.

He pulled her close, and to his surprise, found that she could follow a lead. She laughed when he spun her around.

"I didn't know you could dance," she said.

He lowered his voice into the I'm-sexy-as-hell timbre. "I have many skills," he rumbled, and she laughed again.

If he had a fault, Ares thought, it was that he was _far_ too attached to hearing her laugh.


	18. Unspoken

**18. Unspoken**  
23 May 2006  
X/G-ish / friendship - spoilers for dreamworker?

"You didn't think I meant it, did you?"

"Huh! Not me-- I wasn't fooled."

Xena's smile faded slowly as they watched the ripples flatten out and the water become calm. She turned her head to look at Gabrielle.

"You know," she said quietly, and Gabrielle couldn't quite place the strange emotion in her eyes.

"You changed me, too."

A small smile, and Gabrielle said, "You're welcome."

They were quiet again.

"Wanna ride Argo today?"

"Are you kidding? She'll eat me!"

"Well... Do you have an apple?"


	19. Fanfiction

**19. Fanfiction**  
24 May 2006  
Gen – set in S3

"Gabrielle?"

"Yeah?"

"Who the fuck is Akemi?"

Gabrielle turned to see her scroll lying open in Xena's lap. "Oh, well, you know. You fall madly in love with her, but it turns out that she was only using you to visit vengeance on her father, and then you have to kill her, and she asks you to—"

"But I only meet her five lines ago."

"I was just trying to show that you were in an emotionally vulnerable period."

"By wandering off alone with the first skirt I meet?"

"It was for ransom, remember?"

"Alone. That far away from my army."

"You were confident," Gabrielle asserted.

"And intellectually stunted?"

"I just thought that you would have been more innocent a long ago. So there's room for improvement, right?"

Unfortunately undeterred by the flattery, Xena continued, "But the majority of this happens in the present. You'd think I'd be a bit less gullible; I mean, that Akemi girl suddenly tells me that I have to stay dead so that the eaten souls are avenged. She's either lying through her teeth, or being incredibly manipulative. Seems transparent enough to me. And Gabrielle?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"'Girl with a Chakram?'"

"What? You don't think I can do it?"

"Gabrielle, I heard about the dish."

"Minor setback."

Xena lapsed into thoughtful silence.

"Gabrielle?"

"Hmm?"

"I take it back about writing fiction."


	20. Insomnia

**20. Insomnia**  
25 May 2006  
X/A

Xena sat up in the dark, ready to wake Gabrielle in case of trouble.

"What do you want?" she snapped, her pounding headache lending an extra edge to her words.

He stood there after a blue flash, cradling a chicken in one hand.

"What the hell is that?"

He looked at her, pursing his lips as if thinking about her question. "A chicken."

She glowered menacingly, an expression she perfected years ago with the aim of reducing hardened warriors to stuttering children. "I know it's a fucking chicken. Why are you here, bothering me, with a chicken?"

He smiled winsomely. "A funny thing happened today. I thought I'd share."

"Because you were aware of my long-time fascination with chicken."

"Blondie doesn't look like very good company, out cold like that."

"What makes you think yours is preferable?"

Ares pressed his free hand to his chest. "She's hostile. Be still my heart."

"Let me help with that," she said, reaching for her chakram.

He picked it up before she touched it and crouched beside her, his eyes black and huge in what remained of the firelight. "Come on, Xena. Can you really tell me that you don't miss sitting up with me at night, just," he shrugged, "talking?"

Her eyes narrowed resentfully. "That was a long time ago."

He didn't move, and she rubbed her temples tiredly under the assault of his boyish pout. "Sit down," she said.

He smiled again.

"It started with Discord stealing Princess-Bitch Artemis' bow and shooting my annoying…"


	21. Riding in Cars with Egos

**21. Riding in Cars with Egos**  
25 May 2006  
Gen – glare darnpeoplewhomakemethinkaboutthingsuntilihavetowriteitdown

Xena stopped at the curb. "Is this one yours?"

"Yes, yes it is." He rattled off the make and looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, wow," she said dutifully, trying to remember what he called it in case he quizzed her later, and he nodded graciously.

He opened the door on the passenger's side with an "Allow me," before loping to the other side and hopping over the door directly into the richly-upholstered driver's seat. He patted the dashboard affectionately. "This baby and I are going to take the world by storm."

"Mr. Caesar—"

"Please, call me Julius."

"Right. You said there was something you wanted to discuss with me?"

The engine turned over, and they glided smoothly into the traffic. "An offer, actually," Caesar said. "I've been thinking about the future, my dear Xena, and as you know, every great man needs a great partner. A woman—charismatic, beautiful—to accompany him in his rise to power. If I may be so blunt, I must say, Xena, that Roman finery becomes you; you would be an excellent asset to the Caesar name."

They rolled onto the freeway, and Caesar glanced at the rearview mirror. With a sigh, he reached up to return his hair to order.

"Caesar!" Xena stared at him in horror. "You're doing 80!"

"I know," he said absently, pushing a few wind-blown strands down.

"Hands on the wheel!"

"Fine, fine." He replaced his hat carefully. "So, what do you think of my offer, Xena?" He gazed at her earnestly. "I knew you were part of my Destiny the moment I first saw you."

Xena checked her seatbelt again. He capitalized the word "destiny" vocally. "Caesar," she said slowly, "you've got problems." She was going to die.

He smiled and shook his head indulgently.

"Stay in the middle of the fucking lane!"


	22. Reading Materials

22. **Reading Materials**  
26 May 2006  
Gen, X/A if you squint

Strife was bored. Bored, bored, and really bored. His uncle Ares was usually coming up with something interesting to do to the little humans running all over the place, but lately, all Ares wanted to do was sit in his big throne—the comfy one—looking at something.

Every so often, Strife would hear little sighs and moan-y noises coming from the throne, which confused him 'cause if his uncle wanted to do _that_ he usually got a girl from somewhere.

Too bored, too curious, and twitching with too much pent-up energy, Strife approached his uncle.

"Hey, Unc?"

A grunt.

"What's that?"

Rustle of something dry, then silence.

He was holding something rectangular, flat, weirdly glossy, and covered with very interesting pictures of girls. Strife tilted his head, his mouth opening in a quiet pant.

"Unc?"

"_What?_" Ouch, he sounded impatient. "It's a magazine, alright?"

"Mahgaseen," Strife repeated. "Is it good?"

Ares didn't say anything for such a long time that Strife thought he wasn't going to answer again, and then he mumbled, almost like he was talking to himself, "Mm… sexy."

Ooh! Strife reached for the object. "Can I see?" He barely touched it, but it fell easily to the ground.

Ares shot up, roaring and gathering a ball of blue, crackling energy in his right hand.

Strife fled, but not before sneaking a peek at what Ares had been holding underneath the mahgaseen. It was flat and rectangular, too, but instead of pictures, there were lots and lots of words. It had fallen open where Ares was reading, and all Strife saw was what looked like a title.

"The Joining: Part III," it said.


	23. Birth

23. **Birth**  
28 May 2006  
X/G – fluff fluffy fluff-fluff

"What? Do you think I'm going to sell this information to Salmoneus or something?"

"No, Gabrielle. I don't."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"It's just…" Xena gestured vaguely. "Something I don't find important."

"But you know mine."

"I know."

Gabrielle's mouth dropped open. Pigheaded. Utterly pigheaded! "Xena! Why won't you tell me when your birthday is?"

"It's not—"

"Of course it's important! It's the day you became you!"

Her arm was waving around wildly as she spoke, and Xena caught her staff before it made contact.

A light laugh in her voice, Xena pulled Gabrielle close and said, "Then my birthday is the day I met you."


	24. Fanatic

**24. Fanatic** or **Handle with Patience**  
29 May 2006  
X/A – you do realize I'm serious about the flattery thing?  
Oh, spoilers for ETTG. Although if you haven't already read that, shame on you.(tried to keep them minimal.)

Xena closed the heavy wooden door behind her and dropped her armour onto a pile of dirty sheets.

"I just beat the stuffing out of another one of your flunkies," she said, pulling out the laces of her leathers, "so I'll be in the bath."

There was some sort of snuffle and a meek "Okay."

She tossed the rest of her clothes onto the pile and sat on the bed to pull off her boots. "What's the matter?"

Ares turned on his side to look at her, sheaf of papers in hand and unshed tears in eyes.

She sighed and took the papers from him. "What are you reading now, Ares? I told you that the person who wrote the story about you and Hercules making out in the bathroom wasn't actually serious about it." She flipped to the title page. "Equal to the Gods," she read.

"It's horrible," Ares sat up, a concerned pout on his face. "I found out that you and Gabrielle were sleeping together, and you didn't tell me about it the whole time, so I was really hurt, and I went and got piss-ass drunk, but you really did love me, so you—"

"You don't have to tell me the whole story."

She was laughing now, he realized indignantly.

"And before you ask, no, I'm not having sex with Gabrielle."

While he spluttered, she put the manuscript down and marked his place.

"'Sides, you're, what, a tenth of the way through this? We probably end up having a threesome and live happily ever after."

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "I did get to the first time we make love. It's intense. You're wearing that little purple scrap, and when I accuse you of taking away any choice—"

"Ares," Xena interrupted. She stood and stretched slowly, knowing that his eyes would be following the shifting muscles under her naked skin as she walked. "We're not going to role-play."

He pushed himself up off the bed and followed her into the bathing area. "Not even a little?"


	25. Air Guitar

**25. Air Guitar**  
29 May 2006  
X/A – there's something about Ares being silly that's just too cute.

Music was blaring from their flat. Xena unlocked the door and paused, her hand on the knob. Maybe she ought to go kill some time outside, she thought as she opened the door.

"—_rebel yell, she cried more, more, more…_"

Xena screamed.

Ares screamed reflexively and swung around, his crucifix laden necklaces shattering a glass in the process.

Xena pointed. "What the fuck?"

"Er, I just wanted to see what it'd look like. It's not like—"

"Hair?"

"Don't get so upset—"

"Eyeliner?"

"Well—"

"Bondage gear?"

"You wore leather for a lifetime!"

"You're sleeping on the couch!"

He blinked when she walked past him into the bedroom. "You're not serious?"

The door slammed.

"Look, I changed it back."

"Great," she responded through the door, which remained firmly closed.

"Xena?"

"Turn the music down, will you?"

Ares transported himself into their bedroom, crossed his arms and pouted at her. "At least I don't listen to KISS."


	26. Hero

26. **Hero**  
31 May 2006  
X/A – on an X/A roll.  
Hah. Exactly 100 words. I feel strangely proud.

Xena crouched to avoid the heavy black smoke and shuffled toward the door. Half-blinded by sweat, she didn't see the section of roof collapse.

She was on her back. She had to get up. Her throat felt like she'd swallowed charcoal, her lungs burned, and she had to get up.

At least the kid was safe.

Tired. Somehow, the phrase "blaze of glory" sounded extremely funny now.

Her eyes flew open when something damp and cool covered her mouth and nose, and she saw a dark scowl framed by dark curls.

"Fucking heroes," Ares muttered as he picked her up.


	27. Mine

27. **Mine**  
4 June 2006  
X/A – Insomnia redux

When Ares picked her up and stepped into the aether, Discord thought that he was finally going to get that holier-than-thou goldie-pants to return her to her body, but they ended up in the middle of some forest she didn't recognize. Where were they?

_Her!_ He came to see her! What was he doing talking to her in the middle of the night?

His grasp was careless and rough when he sat down beside warrior-bitch-extreme, so Discord squawked indignantly and flapped her wings, berating him for squishing her, but all that came out was a series of enraged clucks. Disgusted that she was ignored, she ruffled her feathers and settled down to roost.

Xena must have said something because Discord heard Ares laugh— that low, rumbly, sexy laugh she only heard when he was truly happy: when a conquest had gone according to plan or something.

Damn her! Who did she think she was, making Ares laugh like that? That's it; she's getting it.

Discord aimed a hard peck at the warrior princess's hand, but she moved it out of the way almost absentmindedly at the last moment.

Discord screamed in frustration and strained, wings pumping, to remove herself from Ares' grasp, intent on pecking that godsforsaken bitch's eyes out.

Aw fuck. She laid an egg again.


	28. KO

28. **K.O.**  
6 June 2006  
X/A-ish

"Whoo!" Ares' hands shot up into the air. "Total wipeout! That's what you get when you go up against the god of _war_!"

A single eyebrow arched. "That was the first time you won in the past four hours, Ares."

He scoffed. "Your lucky button-mashing is no match against my strategic superiority."

"My 'lucky button-mashing' produced special attacks that whipped your ass at a rate significantly higher than chance."

"It didn't save you from my deadly Gou Shoryuken."

"That was completely a lucky shot on your end. You just happened to be standing in the right spot while I was switching."

"You wanna test that theory?"

Their noses were inches apart when someone cleared his throat loudly.

A stick-thin kid pushed his glasses further up his nose and gestured pointedly at the machine. "Other people are waiting to play too, you know."

Xena muttered an apology and backed away.

They watched the kid and his friends cluster around the machine and fight over who gets the 'hot chick.'

Ares tilted his head to look at her. "Mortal Kombat?" he said.

"You're on."


	29. Fair Trade

29. **Fair Trade**  
8 June 2006  
X/G-ish

Xena looked up when she heard a triumphant shout from the water.

Gabrielle shook her hair from her face, balancing a madly struggling fish on her raised hand. "I did it! I got one!" she called to Xena.

"That's great, Gabrielle."

Suddenly, Gabrielle yelped and slipped down into the water. The warrior princess stood quickly, ready to dive in.

"Gabrielle?"

Spluttering, a blonde head surfaced again.

"It bit me!" Gabrielle complained.

"Didn't you stun it?"

Gabrielle looked at her in speechless bewilderment. "You were serious about punching the fish in the face?"

"It's half the fun."

She shrugged eventually. "I'll try again, then." She swam further out. "I want it baked."

"Crispy and black, I hope."


	30. Your Hand in Mine

30. **Your Hand in Mine**  
9 June 2006  
X/A – response to AreslovesXena's FF challenge.

Xena poked at the fire listlessly and listened to the rain hitting the ground outside, a steady low roar with the occasional patter of individual drops. Her eyes slid over the sword. The flickers of firelight didn't quite match up with the shifting pattern of light and dark along the blade, as if it barely existed as part of this world.

She wasn't going to touch it.

He couldn't touch it, either, as demonstrated by the crackle of lightning that snapped at his hand when she tried to give it to him and make him go away.

She looked out at the rain.

He was a fool.

Xena stepped out into the night and approached the figure hunched under a tree that shook in the wind and deposited a stream of water on his head.

"Why are you still here?" she demanded, her voice harsh and loud after the quiet.

To give him his due, the look Ares gave her was as disdainful as any crown prince's. "In case you haven't noticed, you've got my godhood."

"I agreed to keep it safe for you, not to babysit."

The flash of anger she expected to see didn't appear. "I'm tired, Xena. If you're going to jab me with that stick up your ass, at least wait until morning."

He shivered and huddled into a smaller ball.

"Why?"

His head shot up, but she wasn't looking at him. "If you'd listened in Britannia," he bit out savagely, but stopped when she flinched. Water rolled down her arm and dripped from her fingers, each drop seeming to elongate her nail before separating. "I'd never been that helpless before," he muttered, barely audible above the rain.

She turned and looked at him now, face distant as always. He cursed inwardly, vowing to knock that blank expression off her face. His nose itched. He rubbed it roughly and almost immediately, he sneezed loudly.

Ares felt a flush creep up his neck, but when he looked up again, there was something like a smile in her eyes.

She reached out her hand with the elongating, dripping fingers to him and said, "Come on."


	31. Lady Make it Good

31. **Lady Make it Good**  
9 June 2006  
X/A – response to AreslovesXena's FF challenge continued.

"He's coming."

"Right." Xena lifted the sword and rested it casually against her shoulder. She drew out its power effortlessly and wrapped it around herself, eyes widening slightly in surprise. It wasn't heavy and suffocating, anymore.

Zeus appeared, firm expression on face and smug offspring in tow. "How did it go?"

"Oh, I whipped him into shape pretty quickly," Xena responded nonchalantly and gave the sword a couple of menacing twirls.

Ares kept his eyes fixed on the ground and said humbly, "I have learned my lesson, father."

Zeus eyed him suspiciously. "What lesson?"

"I was wrong to pursue my own interests. My loyalty is to Olympus, now and always."

"Yes, well… Yes, that's right." The king of the gods glanced uncertainly at Xena, who nodded gravely. "Well, in that case, the ban on your godhood is lifted. I expect to see you performing your duties tomorrow."

"Of course, father."

Zeus cleared his throat uneasily as he left, casting his son a last suspicious look.

Ares was reaching for his sword, fighting a grin, when Apollo leaned forward and squinted at him.

"Hey, is that a hickey?"


	32. Wash off the Blood

32. **Wash off the Blood**  
9 June 2006  
X/A – response to AreslovesXena's FF challenge continued. Chronologically, this goes between the previous two.

Ares surfaced and shook his head, sending water flying in every direction. Three drops landed on his forearm, and he watched them roll off. They were pale pink until they dropped off and disappeared.

He checked his bandage. It was still dry. Looked like whatever Xena covered it in worked.

There was a clink of metal from the shore. When he looked, Xena was there, removing her remaining gauntlet and standing in that flimsy white thing she wore under her leathers.

She waded in and swam toward him. She glided like smoke, he thought, effortless and silent. She was behind him now, and her touch was light as she drew his hair back from his face.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Twelve stitches? Oh yeah, great."

He could hear her frown in her voice. "You shouldn't have jumped in. I saw him."

He scoffed. "I'm famous for jumping in before thinking." He closed his eyes as a cool stream of water ran down his scalp. "Not much of a problem when you're a god."

"Idiot."

"Hey, I saved your life," he protested.

She laughed, soft breath ghosting over the curve of his neck. "Your hair's clean now," she informed him, and the water stirred when she twisted to propel herself around him. Her hand brushed him accidentally, and he took in a sharp breath—gasp, fine; it was a gasp.

She'd frozen behind him, now. Ares slid away quickly, careful not to look at her. "Sorry," he said, embarrassed. "It's just… you—the water—I mean…" She's going to kill him. He trailed off awkwardly. She was going to rip his throat out.

He felt the water move around him, and then she was in front of him, and oh gods her mouth was warm.


	33. Strain

33. **Strain**  
12 June 2006  
Gen – yet another continuation of shipper FF challenge.

Ares squatted over a small pile of twigs and sticks he'd collected. He placed the last piece in place and sat back expectantly.

After a while, he nudged it into a more perfect cone.

He picked up one of the larger sticks after a few moments, pulled out a small knife, and shaved a bit off of the end. When he replaced it, however, the pile sagged and collapsed inward.

With a growl, he began to arrange the pile again. His voice was a low murmur in which the occasional curse was audible.

Gabrielle nudged Xena and whispered, "What is he doing?"

The other woman shrugged. "Dunno."


	34. Trick of the Trade

34. **Trick of the Trade**  
12 June 2006  
X/A –ish. This one goes before 'wash off the blood' but after 'strain,' I'd say.

Ares found Gabrielle arguing heatedly with Argo on one of the side tracks forking off from the main road.

"What are you doing?"

Gabrielle growled. "Xena asked me to take Argo to the spring for her, but the bloody horse won't move!" She gave the lead another tug, but Argo only snorted and flicked an ear at her.

Ares gave an exasperated sigh, and Gabrielle glowered at him. "You think I'm doing this for my own enjoyment?"

"She probably thinks you're just being weird." He reached for the reins. "Move," he snapped, ignoring Gabrielle's insulted response.

He reached up to stroke Argo's nose, and there was something gentle in the way he looked at her. Turning, he walked toward Gabrielle with Argo following obediently. He handed her the reins and said, "You have to let her know what you want instead of just pulling at her."

She looked at him, surprised. "For a boorish bastard, you're pretty useful."

He scoffed, crossing his arms and turning his head away. "Huh. Without someone to tell you what to do, I swear…"

They were silent for a few moments as they walked.

Gabrielle glanced at him. "Apology accepted," she said softly, and his smirk was defensive and grateful at the same time.

"Hey," Xena's voice greeted suddenly. "What are you two up to?"

Gabrielle realized that they'd stopped walking again. "Um," she improvised, reaching quickly to her left. "Just picking some berries for Argo."

Xena eyed the small fruits. "You'll get attacked by a giant vicious rabbit again if you eat those," she said dryly.

"Very funny." Gabrielle rolled her eyes and dropped the berries. "I'll go ahead to the spring."

She turned her head slightly as she led Argo away, watching from the corner of her eye the absolute trust in Ares' smile when Xena looked at him and said something.

Hmm.


	35. Tatiana

35. **Tatiana**  
14 June 2006  
Gen. Argo/apples, maybe.

Xena paused, ripped saddlebag in one hand and needle in the other, when something settled on her head.

She looked up, and a leaf dangled in her face. She pushed it out of her eyes. "What's that?"

Ares nodded appraisingly. "Looks great on you."

"Leaves?"

Argo leaned over and plucked the thing off Xena's head with her teeth, and Ares' grin widened, hand dropping surreptitiously to the shortsword tucked in his belt.

Argo, unconcerned by the sounding of Xena's shrill warcry and the clang of blade on blade, continued to chew on the cone-shaped headpiece woven out of many flexible fronds and laden with small, hard apples.


	36. Inheritance

36. **Inheritance**  
18 June 2006  
_Not_ G/Virgil.

Gabrielle stepped out into the sunlight, attracted by the soft humming.

"What's that?" she asked. "Writing another epic?"

Virgil looked up from the scroll on his lap and smiled through blurry eyes. "It's a song. Dad wrote it."

Gabrielle gave a small laugh. "Not 'Joxer the Mighty,' is it?"

"No. No, he did try to coax us into singing backup for that, but," he paused, "this one's different, I guess." He waited while she read the lyrics and grinned when her eyes widened.

"This is…" She looked up, searching for words. "This is good— this is _poetry_."

"Dad always said that my grandfather complained that he could sing before he could talk."

Gabrielle frowned at the scrap of parchment as if it offended her. "He should have shown me this," she said.

"Yeah." Virgil rubbed his face roughly. "I miss him, too."


	37. Late Mornings

37. **Late Mornings**  
21 June 2006  
X/A - Ahem. Lookie me, I forgot to update. -.-"

Xena twisted under Ares' arm draped over her side. An unintelligible mutter came from her lips and she frowned sleepily.

"Hmm?" Ares said. Despite the heavy curtains blocking out the sun, heat settled on the room like a scorched sheet.

"Sticky," she murmured and pulled a strand of hair from her face.

Ares pulled his arm away, feeling their skin separate against the unpleasant suction. "Sorry."

Before he could roll over and climb out of the bed, she turned, her hand settling lightly on his chest and the top of her head fitting into the crook between his neck and his shoulder.

"Stay."

"Mm."

He felt her breaths become long and regular when Xena drifted off back to sleep. Maybe if he went and beat up Apollo, it wouldn't be so hot.


	38. Photophobia

38. **Photophobia**  
28 June 2006  
X/A

Gabrielle broke off her description of Joxer attempting to carve her old Amazon staff from a fallen sapling when Ares ambled slowly out of the bedroom.

She and Xena watched him rub his muscled belly and reach for the coffee pot. He paused, put the pot back on the stand, and pulled a mug from the dishwasher. He filled his mug, which had a jolly picture of Van Gogh without his ear on the side, and walked back towards the bedroom, slowing unsteadily when he took a sip.

Gabrielle cleared her throat. "Not a morning person, huh?"

"Hmm," Xena agreed. "Ares?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"Put some pants on, okay?"

"Mm."


	39. Peace

39. **Peace**  
29 June 2006  
X/A – on an X/A binge, lately… Sorry. I was meaning to do a G/J one, but it didn't turn out.

Another day, another wannabe trying to carve his name onto history with his army of three smelly social rejects.

Xena inspected her sword. Considering having spent twenty-five years stuck in a block of ice, it was holding up pretty well, but there were a few more nicks in it than several months ago. It was well-made. Had to be, since she'd taken it from him in the first place.

She picked up a soft cloth and ran it down the blade. "Stop it," she said.

"Stop what?"

"That." She looked up to see him leaning comfortably against a tree. Always the one for dramatic entrances. "Don't you have anything better to do? Particularly since I took out your latest project."

"Who?"

"Said his name was Acarus."

"Who?"

Xena chuckled low in her throat. "You're slipping, wargod." She looked up again, but he hadn't moved. He regarded her silently with the calm, open eyes she'd come to anticipate. "Gonna stand there all night?"

He shrugged a wide shoulder and grinned.

It was a strange kind of peace they had, Xena knew.


	40. Surprise

40. **Surprise**  
2 July 2006  
Gen – And now for something completely different. Happy birthday AreslovesXena? Apologies to Discworld and Monty Python...

DIRECTOR: "Okay, let's try this again." (_Points_) "Antony. Finishing up your segment. Do a sexy little wiggle. Sexy, I said. Fine. Fine! That's good enough."

_ANTONY escapes._

DIRECTOR: (_expansive, impatient gestures_) "Cake! Wheel in the cake!"

_Enter enormous five-tiered cake. Looks like chocolate._

DIRECTOR: "The mark! Get on the bloody mark! Okay… cue music. Why is there a _duck_ on the trumpet player's head? No, I don't want to know. Keep playing."

_Divers alarums_.

DIRECTOR: "Wrong score!"

_Fanfare and expectant pause_.

DIRECTOR: "_Ares_!"

CAKE: "What?"

DIRECTOR: "Your cue?"

CAKE: (_testily_) "Cue for what?"

DIRECTOR: "Jump out of the fucking cake!"

_Top plane of cake lifts to reveal ARES in icing hold-all trimmed with cherries._

ARES: "Now what?"

DIRECTOR: "What do you mean 'now what'? Spell the birthday girl's name!"

ARES: "Right." (_Pauses_) "Line?"

DIRECTOR: "Do the cheer!" (_Holds arms above head in a point reminiscent of the letter "A"_) "Give me an A!"

ARES: (_face becomes blank and hands reach down to grab rapidly disintegrating icing hold-all_) "This is ridiculous." (_Vanishes_)

DIRECTOR: (_Oblivious_) "Give me an R! Give me an E! Give me an S! Do the hand symbols, band. Give me an L! Give me—"


	41. Rebirth

41. **Rebirth**  
7 July 2006  
X/A

After so many false hopes and fake trails, Ares can't believe his luck. There she is, stepping out of a car across the street. She gives the driver a casual wave and a smile, and she straightens up as the car pulls away.

He works to swallow his excitement because he knows it can't be that easy. She won't remember him and she'll probably sic the police on him if he just assaults her on the street. In front of the courthouse, no less. No—she's a Justice? A lot has changed.

He watches her cross the street. Maybe she's so different that he won't have any place in her life this time around.

Hah. Madame Justice jaywalked.

He's invisible now, so he should probably wait. Catch her after work or something.

His breath catches in his throat when she looks straight at him.

How did she—

She smiles that half-affectionate, half-exasperated smile and says, "About time you showed up."


	42. Tech Support

42. **Tech Support**  
14 July 2006  
G/J

Joxer sidled over to a group of girls in bikinis and rollerblades. "Hey, um," he said with a sheepish smile, "Whoa, aren't you afraid of getting sunburned in those—sorry, sorry. Could you help me out? Your hair is beautiful; is that curl natural?"

The tallest girl looked at her friends, all of whom sported identically long, curly hair, and patted her own casually. "What did you need help with?"

"Oh, well." Joxer gestured with the small silvery rectangle in his hands. "My girlfriend got this digital camera, right, and I kind of told her that I knew how to use it, and then she believed me," he broke off with an incredulous laugh, "Can you believe that?"

"Uhuh," the girl said blandly.

"Anyway, so she wanted me to go take some pictures of the falls over there, and I was just wondering why I can't seem to get it to, you know, take pictures."

"Is it broken?"

Joxer gave her a panicked look. "I broke it?" He jumped suddenly and put the camera to his eye. "Oh yeah," he pursed his lips and nodded in approval. "That's a lovely shot, right there, ladies. Gorgeous!"

He tilted his head lightly to his left and said casually, "Hey, Gabby. Yeah, me and the girls were just having a little—"

Gabrielle nodded gravely. "Right," she said before reaching out to turn the camera on.

Joxer watched silently as the thing whirred and the shutter folded in on itself to reveal the lens.

She patted his cheek lightly. "Have fun, kids."


	43. Guardian

43. **Guardian**  
16 July 2006  
X/A

There was a scratch on the door, and Xena blinked sleepily before dismissing it and burrowing closer to Ares' warmth.

She sat up when it happened again. "Ares?"

"Hmm?"

"What was that?"

They listened quietly until the scratching stopped.

"Oh," Ares said, pulling himself out of bed. "He needs to be walked."

Two sharp barks came through the door, and Xena pressed a theatrical hand to her forehead. "You didn't."

The door opened, and a grey ball of fur made an enormous leap onto the bed to stick its nose in her face and slobber over her cheek.

"You did." Xena sighed. "Ares…"

She paused, watching him scratch Horace vigorously while babbling baby talk. There was a blue flash, and Ares tossed the ball that had materialized upward. The dog snatched it out of the air and launched himself at Ares again.

"Yeah?" he said, turning his head to avoid the dog's tongue, and she had to smile.

"Never mind. I'd better get going to catch up with Gabrielle."

"I'll see you tonight?"

"Sure." She leaned over to pet Horace on her way out the door. "Keep him out of trouble, 'K?" she told the dog.


	44. Broken Circle

44. **Broken Circle**  
27 July 2006  
Gen - tried another one of those exactly 100 words things.

She held the torch. She'd insisted. She held it until the flames began licking over the wood of the pyre, and sparks snapped close to her eyes. Gabrielle took the torch from her, then.

"Fire," her voice said. "Always fire." She let Gabrielle pull her away.

Gabrielle gently kissed her brow until blue eyes closed. "I'm still here."

She felt disjointed, as if someone else's hands were clinging to Gabrielle's arms, someone else's head was leaning against Gabrielle's shoulder, and someone else's tears were burning on her cheeks. Sobs hit her throat, and Eve cried for a very long time.


	45. Battle Scars

45. **Battle Scars**  
28 July 2006  
X/A

Xena was lying on her stomach, arms folded up to bunch the soft pillows under her head. A light hand tracing over her bare back made her shiver, but her eyes remained shut.

"This one?"

"Persian with a mace. Broke two ribs."

"This?"

"Whip."

"Who?"

"Caesar."

Dark eyes narrowed in a way that would have made Caesar very glad to be several decades dead.

"Don't," Xena said, eyes still closed. "I was stupid enough to get caught."

The hand traced painstakingly over the network of thin lines, and the room was silent but for Xena's even, patient breaths.

"What about this?"

"What?" She turned her head to look.

"This one."

Her lips quirked. "That's not a scar, Ares. You made that."

He bent over and kissed the mark, but his smile slipped when he sat up and looked down at himself.

"I don't have any," he said softly, almost plaintively.

"I don't mind," she said.


	46. When

46. **When**  
31 July 2006  
X/A

When Xena told her, very hesitantly, that she was going to spend the night at Ares' temple, Gabrielle laughed at first.

When Xena didn't grin back, she gaped and stuttered something unintelligible.

Still, she should have expected it. Like it or not, the bastard _had_ changed. He was learning. Which was good, considering all the time she'd so graciously given to teach him about interpersonal relationships while Xena was off punching some poor fish in the face. Any longer, and she would have written him off as a complete failure. It had been pretty awkward, with him pretending that he wasn't asking, and her pretending that she didn't know.

Still.

This was Xena they were talking about. For all her seductive charm, she wouldn't know romance if it upped and bit her on the ass.

Which was probably why Gabrielle was still staring speechlessly when Xena gave her a quick hug and promised to catch up with her early tomorrow.

"But not too early," Gabrielle called after her.

When Xena turned to flash her a smile, there was a blush on her face.

Gabrielle wondered how Lucifer was dealing with his new climate issue.


	47. Recuperation

47. **Recuperation**  
5 August 2006  
Gen – A/Xish

Ares sat in his usual sprawl, hiding a smirk behind his hand as he listened to the steady litany of curses streaming from the direction of his bedchamber.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was hiding it, as the subject in question was unable to move from said bedchamber.

"I can fucking _smell_ you, Ares. You and your bloody smirk. Now get in here and let me out before Gabrielle knocks this place down with us in it"

The voice broke off in a series of hacking coughs, and Ares had to fight to contain his laugh.

He sauntered, as slowly as he could, into the next room and slouched into the chair beside the bed.

"Sick people shouldn't yell so much," he said and held up an elegant goblet. "Drink lots of fluids now."

The Warrior Princess snarled at him, but took the water.

"When I get better…"

"Oh, I look forward to it. You're more amusing an adversary when well." He paused when Xena sneezed.

He reached out as if to push her hair from her face and jerked back to avoid the punch to his face. "But not by much."


	48. Power

48. **Power**  
19 August 2006  
X/A

He was the fucking god of war.

Ares growled and kicked at a lump of asphalt on the sidewalk.

He didn't need anybody, and certainly not sanctimonious bitches who acted like he was just another mortal subject to the flimsy, petty rules mortals spent their insignificant little lives rushing around trying to obey.

He could have anything. He could _do_ anything from giving the country's leaders some much needed tips and watch them fall over themselves to rip through other mortal countries with their ridiculously advanced weapons, to just fucking hurling fireballs at whatever he chose.

And it wasn't as if there was a shortage of good-looking women. Several stood at the corner half a block away, blatantly available.

A car pulled up in front of them, and the window rolled down. There was a screech of laughter from a couple of the women, and one shoved forward a thin girl with heavy makeup and an expression of sheer bravado on her face. Ares could smell her fear, mingling with the sour scent of disease from the older women.

He arranged his face into a leer. Back in the old days, he would have taken the little—

Bile rose in his throat, and he turned around quickly, ignoring the catcalls and whistles behind him.

* * *

Swearing under his breath, Ares unlocked the door to the flat and stopped, resting his head against the cold, plastic-feeling wood.

He was…

He turned the knob and pushed.

Xena was standing at the window, looking out while cold wind blew past her, tugging at her hair and baggy sweater.

He shut the door behind him, and she shut the window.

"Xena, I…" he paused, unsure of what he intended to say.

She turned around to look at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I know."

Fuck it all. He was home.


	49. Child's Play

49. **Child's Play**  
21 September 2006  
X/A – attack of the fluff

Ares was having a good day. The army currently involved with his latest bicker with Athena had tried the old cow carcasses trick, and Miss Prissy Golden Underwear had gotten caught with a good spray of exploded cow and stomped off in a huff; Hephaestus had a whole slew of new weaponry to show off; and one of the faceless priestesses had told him that Xena was waiting for him in the great hall.

He walked—damn, he was spending far too much time with mortals—into the room to find Xena sprawled in his throne, apparently dozing off. He grinned, eyes trailing up long legs hanging haphazardly over one of the arms, past a scrap of colour sitting on her lap, up—

What colour?

"I found this in the room down at the end of the hallway," Xena said, her eyes still closed.

Shit.

"The way the joints move is very impressive, and the stitching and detail of the clothing is incredibly precise."

Shit.

"You made them?"

"Passes the time."

"The couple of Hercules ones… I didn't know that that was physically possible."

Ares shrugged, effectively radiating the assertion that it might be possible if he could experiment with the real thing.

She turned to look at him, eyes crinkled in a smile. "So that's why you kept trying to dress me up," she teased.

"You like them?"

"They're beautiful. I don't see why they all have to look like me, though."

He shrugged again. "I carve them when I think about you."


	50. Creation

50. **Creation**  
22 September 2006  
X/A

Ares enjoyed the times Xena asked him to spar. She'd tease him about something like growing old and fat, and just how old was he, anyway? And he'd retort something obvious about being a god, as if he wasn't terrified of losing her some day, and she'd laugh and say something disrespectful that'd give Zeus righteous constipation.

And they'd be moving, muscles screaming at their demands, breath rasping through their lungs, minds racing to keep up with each other, and their bodies just _moving_, filled with _living_ in the here, and it was _now_.

He knew that gods had a shakier grasp on reality than most, but that was largely due to the fact that reality had only a given amount of real and a large amount of whatever's inside people's heads, and when truth jumped around like a target on a string, history rewrote itself every so often when what was inside the heads ambushed the real, and some idiot's come up with yet another wild story accusing him of something Ares did not and would not do, it was easier to leave the existential dread to the wimpier gods. Like Apollo. But when she reached out her hand to him and pulled him into a world that sharpened into focus and filled in with colours that he couldn't remember seeing before, he understood a bit. He'd never known before that this was how mortals felt to be alive every single moment of every day.

He thought maybe he envied them. He thought maybe he should blame her for changing him.

But not like this, with his body dodging the fluid weave of her sword, her laughter ringing in his ears, and life rushing through his veins.

"Hey, Xena?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He savoured his victory when she stumbled, and he pinned her to the ground and breathed in the _here_ and _now_.


	51. Encouragement

51. **Encouragement**  
3 October 2006  
X/A

Cupie thought she had this whole deal thing with setting up her big brother and the warrior babe, and he'd sigh and mutter something about being hopeless before wandering off to find some more nice, well-adjusted, perfectly suited people who are just dying to be smothered in sugar.

And she did, you know. Have a thing about hooking up Ares and Xena. It was just a bit difficult 'cause they're both pretty stubborn about this sort of thing. She couldn't just zap them because Ares would totally go ballistic on her, and he wouldn't really be happy anyway, in the end. Not like he looked sometimes.

So yeah, Aphrodite did have a thing.

Which was why Cupid was always so surprised when Ares stormed through Olympus with a couple of thunderheads orbiting his head, snarling at anyone who might step into his anger event horizon. Then, Athena would pipe up, drawling something about Xena, and Ares would totally lose it, break a couple of Daddy's favourite ornaments, and get sent to his room. And what Cupie couldn't understand was that Aphrodite _did nothing_.

Well yeah. She did nothing. She was the only one who knew when he came out again, quiet and a little bit defensive. And she was the one who knew when he went back down to Earth again.


	52. Rivalry

52. **Rivalry**  
28 October 2006  
X/A

Ares liked to think that he was pretty good at the whole "boyfriend" thing. He was pretty good at telling when Xena wanted his company, and when she needed her space because gods knew she needed her space.

But even gods have their limits. Especially when it came to irritating half-mortal half-brothers who liked to come around on quiet days with sneaky proposals involving fish as long as his arm.

Ares didn't really do jealousy, so the fact that he was sitting on the other side of Xena at the river bank, bored stiff and shooting occasional glares at Hercules, was due simply to lack of anything better to do. This was also why he'd reach over every so often and give Xena's hair a little tug and ask if she was done fishing yet.

When he was admonished for bothering her and scaring the fish away, he may have looked like he was sulking, but gods of war don't sulk either. Especially not when said irritating half-mortal half-brothers are around to give him insufferably smug smirks.

The next time Ares touched her, it was soft: a feathery stroke starting at the lobe of her ear and sliding back against the smooth skin near her nape. She shivered and glanced over at his innocent expression.

A few minutes later, the touch was back, gliding over the curve of her collarbone.

She closed her eyes and thought about fish.

Then, soft lips pressed against her shoulder. A nip from unseen teeth was followed by a swipe of a hot tongue. A hand edged up under the flanges of her skirt and brushed up against her inner thigh.

Muffling a moan, she dropped the fishing rod and turned to Ares, pushing her hands into his hair and her mouth onto his.

He made a questioning noise in his throat, and she nodded.

When they vanished, Hercules was blushing furiously.

Ares: 1.

Fish: 0.


	53. Security

53. **Security**  
14 November 2006  
X/A – Fluff bordering on angst? Is there such a thing? What if Xena did join Ares at the end of Season 3, and they defeated Dahak together, and seasons 4-6 never happened?

* * *

Ares was idly watching the sunlight shining on Xena's hair when she turned to him and said, "You know, I wondered if people needed gods."

"Gods?"

"But then I thought people had to believe in _something_; otherwise, what's the point? Something has teach us about the difference between right and wrong, the value of truth, the meaning of being human. Everyone needs an anchor, and gods were convenient. I look at the people who truly believe, and their faith in the world and their places in their lives amaze me"

"Going spiritual on me? If I recall correctly, you distrust them immediately, too."

She laughed briefly. "For a long time, I made Gabrielle my anchor. I smothered her with responsibility, and it wasn't fair to her, but I couldn't see that until I hurt her. Now," she said, raising her hands and spreading her fingers in a shrug, "when I'm lost…"

"In case you've forgotten, I _am_ the God of War—"

"You can't be my god, Ares," she cut him off. "Not anymore. You are you."

"Uh," he said intelligently, leaning vaguely in favour of feeling insulted, but not entirely sure why. "Why aren't you looking, then?" Ares paused and grimaced. "Was it because I needed you to stay?"

There was a brief silence and then another peal of laughter, brittle and sharp, before Xena launched herself into the tree above them and took off with a rustle and shower of leaves. "Come on, Ares!" she yelled, "Fight me!"


	54. Coffee Break

54. **Coffee Break**  
16 November 2006  
X/A – And continuing with my morbid train of thought… Unfortunately, I think I'm in a better mood today.

* * *

When Ares was a child and watched his father working, he never realized how much fucking paperwork the old man did. As the heir, he'd envisioned the great power he'd one day possess. He hadn't anticipated the tedium.

Mortals whined, gods whined, and the Fates pushed the blame for every mishap in the tapestry. Olympus ran on the lip of a catastrophe curve.

With Zeus's death during the war with Dahak, the position of glorified paper pusher was his, and he was terribly bad at it. Xena said so before she took over the majority of it.

The sheets were cold around him now, sticking a bit to his legs, and he was watching Xena again as she sat at the desk, reading reports and writing brief orders. He'd have thought she'd get restless, given her propensity for wandering off within a week of settling down anywhere, but she was faultless. She was much more suited for ruling Olympus than he.

Xena looked at him irritably when he put a hand over the scroll in front of her.

"What?"

"Come on. I want to show you something."

"I'm busy, Ares."

He took her hand anyway, and when the world came back into focus, Gabrielle was sitting on a stage just to the left. She looked up and waved when she saw them and returned to her poetry reading.

Xena kissed him, an amused look in her eyes, and turned to look at Gabrielle. Ares sat behind Xena and watched her smile.


	55. Gift

55. **Gift**  
14 December 2006  
X/A – Ooh! Ooh! I've never tried a holiday fic before!

* * *

It was snowing, soft, fluffy-looking flakes drifting out of the pale grey sky before landing and disintegrating on Ares' tongue. He laughed and loped the rest of the way to stand before Xena. 

"You know how you told me that you liked to catch snowflakes on your tongue when you were little? I think I like it too." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and ploughed on. "Anyway, I got you a Solstice gift." Ares fumbled with the pocket of his thick overcoat before producing the most evil-looking implement imaginable to mankind.

"That famous smith over in Thessalonica invented it recently. It's got fourteen blades, can cut through three men and their horses at fifty paces; there's this interesting serrated hook on a chain that does some nice tearing, it slices and dices, and that annoying blonde of yours can gut any fish with…" He trailed off under the withering silence.

At a loss for words, he fidgeted where he stood, and his smile, too wide to be real, faded slowly.

He sighed faintly, stepped forward, and gently placed the flowers in his other hand onto the grave.

"You know," he said, "it's hard. It's so hard. But… I think we're getting better. Gabrielle and I." He knelt and leaned his forehead against the cold stone. "I guess that's what you'd really want, anyway."

* * *


	56. Irrational

56. **Irrational**  
2 February 2007  
X/A

* * *

Gabrielle picked her way through the heavy forest toward camp, shivering as the wind sliced into her wet arms. She'd gone to get some water after Xena had started complaining about being overheated again.

Stepping into the small clearing, she spotted Xena hunched over their small fire, moving her hands laboriously around her distended stomach to sharpen her blade. Wetness glistened against a cheek.

Oh no. Not again.

"Xena?"

There was a sniffle, and Xena tried to lean forward and tilt her head so that her hair would cover the tear tracks.

"Did something happen?"

Xena gave a small shrug and wiped her face quickly with the back of a hand. Immediately, fresh tears trickled down her face.

Stupid Ares.

The familiar blue flash lit the camp, and the god stood fidgeting in front of Xena.

She sniffled again and pointedly ignored him.

Gabrielle sighed when the silence dragged on. Her hands were still wet and cold, and now—

"I'm sorry," he said finally, and panic covered his face when Xena looked up at him and started sobbing in earnest.

Stupid hormones.

Stupid Ares.


	57. Xena Wins Again

57. **Xena Wins Again**  
5 February 2007  
Gen

* * *

You'd think that after all these years, she'd be able to tell when Xena-related chaos was about to strike, but no. She had to go and step into it.

In retrospect, she really should have been forewarned by Xena's initial response.

"You signed Argo up for a _horse_ pageant?"

Gabrielle raised her hands as if to ward off Xena's glare. "Oh, come on, Xena. You know how you're always talking about how difficult it is to make money? I, for one, am sick of fish and rocks on the ground."

A scowl. "I happen to _like_ fish."

"Juicy, succulent pork? Tender young lamb?" Sensing Xena's pause, she drove in for the kill. "And you and I both know that Argo's the most gorgeous creature to walk the earth. Shouldn't we let others enjoy her beauty, as well?"

And that should have been that. Convincing Xena, however, was the easiest part of the fiasco.

First there were the equine beauty specialists. Xena refused to let them and their torture devices with all the curly bits anywhere near Argo, especially when the first thing they did was lift Argo's tail.

So, Xena, and of course Gabrielle because Gabrielle was her best friend and she'd always do whatever she could to help Xena, besides, this whole thing was her idea, right? spent the night grooming a horse.

All night.

It was past dawn before Xena let Gabrielle stagger off while she finished up on some minor details.

Then there was the judge. The enormous-stomached, fancy-coated judge. He prodded Argo for a moment before stepping back and saying, "Hmm… Good performance on the obstacle course, but… rather bulky. Not feminine."

Suddenly aware of a plunge in the temperature, the judge pivoted slowly to face Xena's black expression.

"What did you say, you tub of lard?" She ground out slowly.

Well, at least they got the prize money.


	58. Routine

58. **Routine**  
15 March 2007  
X/A – Far too cliché, but I couldn't help it...

* * *

They had rules. He didn't know how they had rules because they never talked about it, but on him they settled, suffocating and sour like the sweat that prickled under his knees and on his back.

The first rule was silence.

She had her back to him, bending slightly to wipe her thighs.

The second was no contact. Not afterwards.

She lifted hair that clung damp and limp to her neck. She was so close that he could see the fine hairs at her nape lift and bristle in the cooling air, but he couldn't touch. She was a medusa, turning his limbs to stone with fear.

The third was that she always left.

Sometimes it was during the day, a sparring session that ended abruptly in a flurry of lips and rough hands, and sometimes early evening, when she tells the blonde that she's gone hunting, but this was the first time it had been night.

He'd sought her out. To talk. To end this farce. He hadn't expected her to smile at him and lean into him, as if they were lovers.

But now, with the thin sheets twisted tightly around his legs, the taste of bile in his mouth, and her indifferent glances, he cursed his weakness.

"Stay," he blurted out, reaching a hand out to grab her wrist.

Her glare was cold and rasped directly over his nerves.

"No," Xena said, and pulled away.

Somehow, he hadn't thought it would sting so much.

* * *

He'd avoided her successfully for half a year before a dip in the bed and the heat of another body woke him.

He hated being weak. He loathed his hands for reaching out for her soundlessly, as if determined not to break the rules this time.

Her hands shook when they intercepted his and held them in place.

"Ares…" she said, her voice remarkably steady.

She pushed his hands down and tugged the heavy winter blanket until she settled under it.

"Sleep," Xena muttered.

Her eyes closed. A long moment later, as if sensing his mistrustful stare, she burrowed deeper into the cave of warmth his body had already created.

Her voice was muffled and resentful. "I'm not leaving."


	59. Memories

59. **Memories**  
17 April, 2007  
X/A – Man, I'm so mean to Ares. (Goes back to panicking about finals)

* * *

When she pushed open he door, Ares was sitting at the foot of his bed, looking out the window.

"Hey," she said. "I brought lunch."

He gave her a lopsided smile and accepted the tray.

"You have your hair up today, Gabrielle," he said, picking up the spoon.

"Yeah, it's getting long, lately."

He frowned at his soup and said, "Where's Xena, Gabrielle?"

She chuckled at his plaintive tone. "It's harvest time, remember? Xena is out in the fields. When she comes back with the flour, I'll make your favourite bread, alright? Would you like that?"

He looked up, nodding, and his eyebrows lifted with a look of mild surprise. "Your hair is up today, Gabrielle."

She tried to suppress the wince that crossed her face, but he noticed it.

Ares lifted a hand to the thick scar running over his temple onto his forehead. "I'm disgusting like this."

"Of course not," Gabrielle said forcefully. "You're my family. We love you."

A smile flitted across his lips, and he ate. When he put his spoon down again, he reached under his bed and pulled out a scroll and a quill before looking up.

He smiled at her and said, "You have your hair up, today."

Gabrielle nodded and lifted the tray from his lap. "Yeah, I do."

She left the room quietly and without looking at the scroll when he rolled it open. A dozen or more just like it lay under his bed, and she'd caught a glimpse some months ago. They were filled from end to end with the words "I love you, Xena" in the messy, hurried scrawl of someone terrified of forgetting.


	60. Linked

60. **Linked**  
18 May 2007  
G/J

* * *

It was far too early in the morning when Gabrielle made her way out of the kitchen, coffee in hand.

Joxer was leaning forward on the couch, game controller held loosely in his hands. His thumb flicked rapidly at the left joystick, and Gabrielle watched the little green figure leap off a high cliff before jerking upwards once he pulled out a magically expanding and shrinking leaf, and held it above his head in both hands like a parachute. He carefully navigated around huge thorny vines whipping through the sky to form an aerial maze, caught the edge of a local whirlwind, and landed on a tiny platform on the upswing.

Joxer leaned back and sighed. Barely a sliver of magic left, but he made it. The boy on the screen heaved at the lid of a chest over half his height, pushed it back, and leaned into the glowing interior. Spinning around to a burst of triumphant music, he held a blue and red heart-shaped container up above his head.

"Wow," said Gabrielle, "I was trying to do that all of yesterday."

"Hmm," Joxer managed, concentrating on getting back to a small red boat without falling from the scaffolding.

"Hey..." Gabrielle leaned over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. "Is that my file?"

"Hmm."

"You played my file, you--"

Joxer dropped the character back into the boat and handed her the controller. "You said you were having problems with the shooting galleries, right?"

Gabrielle nodded warily.

"I got both the quiver upgrades for you, and that piece of heart that was giving you problems." He stood and stretched until his back cracked soundly.

"You came over before I got up just to help me with my game?"

He gave her his goofy smile and kissed her on the cheek. "I know, I'm so cool, huh?"

Gabrielle raised an eyebrow at him, glad that she'd gotten Xena to teach her the trick to it.

Seeming not to notice her sceptical look, Joxer moved toward the kitchen, tripping over the coffee table on the way.

"Ooh, pancakes."

Gabrielle sighed fondly and followed him to claim a proper "good morning."


	61. Pebbles

61. **Pebbles**  
21 May 2007  
X/A – season… 3? 4? Definitely post TLW, but pre LDITE (and Animal Attraction, for that matter.)

* * *

Mnemosyne's cool, carefully blank expression infuriated Xena.

"What do you mean, Ares is lost?" she said, a crack in her voice escaping her tightly reined control.

Mnemosyne's perfectly graceful gesture indicated Ares, seated on the bedroll beside them, vacant stare fixed on the ground, and Xena felt her bones creak under the strain to stay still and not snap that thin, calm wrist.

"He lost in every sense of the word. Lost in his head, he cannot hear us. Lost in geography, he can not find us. Lost in himself, he cannot remember us."

"Why?" Xena snapped.

"That is my wrong," Mnemosyne admitted. "I was not careful enough in my guarding of the waters of memory, and enough was stolen from my temple to, when ingested, render Ares in this state."

"What are you going to _do_ about it?"

"Nothing, I am afraid. I am bound to my temple, where I must continue to protect mankind's memories—"

"You sure did a good job of it."

"I took him to Olympus when I discovered what had happened," the goddess continued, unperturbed, "and Aphrodite suggested that you would be most successful in the task to recover his memories."

"What task?"

Mnemosyne raised a hand and uncurled her fingers. A pebble lay in her palm, smooth and entirely ordinary had patterns of light and dark not swirled across its surface. "This is a fragment of his memory. His sense of self, to be exact. It was all I was able to recover before the water completed its effect."

She held the stone near Ares, and it shattered into a shower of dust that settled into his skin. He stirred and expelled a sharp breath.

"He should be able to function well enough to follow you in your quest now."

"What makes you think—"

"Will you abandon him?"

Xena winced. "No."

"Aphrodite chose you because you care about him. Is this not true?"

"Yes," Xena said quietly. She turned her head to find Ares fixing her with a confused, entirely too open look. "I care."

"Then I will leave you. Thank you, Xena."

"Wait! Who did this to him? How will I find the rest of the pebbles?"

"I am sorry. I do not know."

* * *

Xena crouched in front of Ares to catch his attention after Mnemosyne's departure.

"Ares?" she said tentatively.

He blinked at her slowly. "Yeah—" he croaked, and cleared his throat. "Yeah. Who are you?"

She stood quickly so he wouldn't see her face. Reaching into Argo's saddlebag, she pulled out her water-skin and tossed it at him, flinching when he fumbled and dropped it on the ground.

"I'm Xena."

Ares screwed the cap back onto the skin. "I heard you talking to the other person. About regaining memories. You were talking about me, weren't you?"

She reached out a hand to help him to his feet. "Yes. I'm here to help…" she paused when her palm began glowing. A hazy outline of a pebble appeared and quickly filled in with the familiar shifting patterns.

When it was complete, Ares took it from her hand. It immediately exploded into the dust that melted into his skin.

He looked up at her. "That was… trust," he said uncertainly.

His eyes widened, and a slow smile grew on his face. "I remember you, Xena."

She nodded, relief coursing through her veins. "Good. We've got more of those to find."

"Okay. I trust you."

-To be continued.-


	62. Integrity

62. **Integrity**  
22 May 2007  
X/A – part 2 of the Pebbles arc. Violence warning.

* * *

Ares eyed Gabrielle with undisguised distaste.

"Does she _have_ to come with us?"

Gabrielle met his stare with equal hostility.

"Do we _have_ to help him?"

Xena groaned. "Just stop it, both of you. Now, let's try this again. Ares, you say you can feel the pebbles?"

"Yeah, there's one nearby."

"How nearby?"

"I can't tell. The signal's not getting any stronger or weaker as we move around."

Xena rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily and stood. "Fine, I'll scout ahead and see if I can find anything."

Xena had gathered up the reins when a hand landed on her arm. Gabrielle frowned at her and ran a hand through her short hair forcefully.

"Xena, why are you doing this? Last time we saw him, he tried to manipulate you into stealing the light chakram for him."

"He's a power-hungry opportunist, but…" Xena paused, unsure how to explain the rush of adrenaline and warmth when he smirked and welcomed her back. He hadn't reacted as badly as she'd expected to the locking away of the light chakram. She shrugged. "As much as I hate to admit it, the world needs a god of war."

Gabrielle watched her for a moment before letting go of her arm. "Fine," she said, "but if he gets on my nerves I'm going to smack him around with my sais."

* * *

Xena pulled Argo in sharply when the campsite came back into view. The fire had been kicked over and the clearing heavily trampled.

"Shit." She swung off the horse to inspect the ground. A loud crack sounded, and Xena turned to face the source, drawing her sword in the same smooth movement.

Ares stopped short to avoid walking into the point of the blade. "What?"

"Where's Gabrielle?"

"We had an argument, and I went for a walk. You mean she's not here?"

Xena looked at her fingertips, wet from when she'd touched the grass. Dark red stains shifted when she rubbed them. "Blood," she said tersely. "How much of an argument?"

Ares raised his hands innocently. "We didn't fight, if that's what you're asking."

Xena didn't seem to hear him as she inspected the clearing. "There," she said, pointing. "At least fifteen soldiers in heavy armour." She slung the already packed bedrolls hastily onto Argo's saddle. "Come on. They went that way."

"And put ourselves in danger? Look, I say we just leave her and keep going. I feel the next stone getting farther away. Gabrielle isn't—"

He was cut off abruptly when Xena punched him in the face.

She didn't trust herself to say anything as she walked away.

* * *

Xena crouched under some heavy ferns. These must have been the injured that had been left behind to follow at their own pace.

She let a smug smile twist her lips while watching a particular soldier nurse a nasty gash in his leg. Gabrielle had practically hamstrung him.

The man stood and limped slowly over to a tree, undid his pants, and settled into that calm, reflective state that allowed a man to stare fixedly at some bark while waiting out other bodily processes. Entering said state was, in general, not a good time to feel the cold prick of a blade near sensitive flesh.

"Where's the girl?" a disturbingly calm voice said near his ear.

"You're Xena, aren't you?" he finally concluded.

"Give the man a medal. Now where is she?"

"You'll have to kill me—" He broke off into a muffled scream of pain when fingers dug sharply into his open wound. A strong hand squeezed his mouth shut before he could make enough noise to alert the others.

"Where is Gabrielle?" the voice knifed through the trembling in his knees and the red clouds of pain in his eyes.

"Temple of Kal." His mouth moved without consulting his brain. "The high priest… Orders to—"

Xena stepped over the crumpled figure.

Temple of Kal.

* * *

Gabrielle's head ached, and she could feel a trickle of blood running into her ear, but when she heard Xena's sharp warcry, she bared her teeth and attacked.

The guards were disoriented: panicked about Xena's assault and torn between rushing out to meet the warrior princess and staying to guard the blonde with blood soaking her hair and eyes gleaming like a berserker.

Gabrielle fought on instinct alone, barely registering the screams when she slammed an unprotected head into the wall and dragged his weapon from his hands. Turning, she faced the others and charged.

They surrounded her, and her body moved on its own in a practiced dance, parrying and slashing. A high kick to a soldier's face smashed his nose and drove the bone fragments into his brain, and he dropped, tripping a man behind him onto an outstretched sword.

Another clutched his throat, blood bubbling from his mouth, and Gabrielle saw the glint of a blade behind her. She turned desperately, knowing it was too late, but the thrust seemed to stop by itself.

She looked up into the bloody point protruding from the plate armour, driven in at such a force that the metal sported a network of cracks around the hole, which shattered when the sword was pulled out from behind.

Ares met her eyes over the fallen enemy, and he nodded at her. He must have taken out the rest of the soldiers, she realized, looking around the large cell.

"Ares."

They turned at Xena's voice. She was standing at the top of the staircase, framed by daylight from the door, and when she stepped into the gloom, her smirk seemed entirely too knowing.

"You did come."

Ares tossed down his acquired weapon and shrugged, an embarrassed grimace on his face. "Well, you know…"

He waited while Xena hugged Gabrielle and whispered something in her ear before gesturing to catch Gabrielle's eye. "You were good," he said.

"Thanks."

He struggled with himself for a moment. "Sorry."

Now she smiled at him and extended her hand. "Thanks."

Her palm blazed and a pebble took shape. Before Ares could move, Xena snatched it up and peered at it.

"Integrity, huh?" she said and turned to the door. Tossing the pebble casually into the air and catching it again, she said over her shoulder, "Let's go find the rest of these little things."

"Hey!"

Xena laughed and tossed it over her shoulder at Ares.

_To be continued._


	63. Envy

63. **Envy**  
22 May 2007  
X/A – Part 3 of the Pebbles arc.

* * *

"—got enough wood for the night, so we should probably turn in. Ares? Are you listening to me?"

He didn't seem to hear her, and she frowned with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone," he said, before standing and heading out into the forest.

Xena shrugged at Gabrielle's questioning look when he was out of view. "He probably just needs some angst time. "

She rubbed the cloth in her hand down the blade resting against her knee a few more times until Gabrielle's pointed silence forced her to sigh. "I'll go check on him."

She found him sitting by the river. He looked at her when she approached him, frowned, and settled back into his gloomy hunch.

"Why are you helping me, Xena?"

She sat down beside him and leaned back onto her hands. "You're… my friend, I guess." She was quiet for a moment. "Friends help friends."

He lay down on the grass then, and turned to look at her. He reached up to push away a strand of hair that the wind had blown into her mouth.

"I'm glad," he said. His fingers brushed over her cheek. "Sometimes, I wonder if what I do remember is real, whether it was just a hallucination. I'm glad you're how I remembered."

She stopped his hand as it wandered into her hair, and she frowned at the memory of a candle-filled room, water surrounding her body, and his fingers combing across her scalp.

And then he'd tried to give her his peace-through-war spiel.

"Ares."

"Ah. Sorry." He pulled away and lay on his back.

They didn't talk anymore that night, staring up at the bright band of stars directly overhead.

* * *

Ares woke to shrill screams of rage and shouts coming from the direction of the campsite.

Xena noticed his arrival first, and she stopped him from entering the clearing with a suspiciously strangled cough. "Breakfast got away from Gabrielle," she said. "You'll probably get smacked with a frying pan if you go over there."

He watched a tiny brown rabbit race across the campsite, ears flat against its head and eyes wide with terror, closely chased by the blonde warrior wielding a frying pan like a mace.

It dove into a bush seconds before a high velocity swing of the pan stripped the plant of half its leaves, but ultimately failed to reveal a rabbit carcass.

"Looks tasty," Ares said, earning himself a heated glare.

"Can't you do a… a god thing or something?" Gabrielle asked, gesturing at the remains of the bush with the frying pan.

"What god thing?"

Silence descended heavily.

"Ah," Gabrielle said with a forced laugh. "Nothing. I'm babbling."

Ares opened his mouth, a dissatisfied frown on his face, when Xena cut him off with a jerk of her hand. She signalled to Gabrielle, took Ares' wrist, and the three melted into the shadows of the forest.

"Movement," Ares hissed, jerking his chin to the left side of the clearing. Gabrielle appeared by their sides with barely a rustle, and Xena nodded in acknowledgment.

"Second time we're being spied on in two days," she murmured. "Can't be a coincidence."

They waited until their visitors were inspecting their abandoned makings of a fire before attacking.

Gabrielle ducked under one man's initial wide swing, bringing her close enough to launch a series of jabs with the hilts of her weapons, and Xena hit the other with a lazy punch that sent him off his feet. Flying backward, he landed on Ares' outstretched blade, only stopping when his torso slid into the hand guard with a damp thunk.

Ares looked down at the streams of blood running down onto his hands, and then up at Xena's annoyed face.

"Oops," he said.

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. We'll catch the other one."

The other spy, seeing his companion dead, kicked up a spray of dirt into Gabrielle's face and ran. Xena swore, prepared to give chase, when the spy stopped in his tracks. As he backed slowly into the clearing, the reason for his change of heart appeared in the form of a gauntlet-covered arm clenching onto his collar, shoving him back as the owner of the arm stepped toward Xena.

"I think I found something you're looking for, Xena," said Hercules.

"Great timing, as always," she responded with a twitch in her lips. She reached for the spy, moments before the man oozed a bright yellow light, and his torso exploded in a shower of heavy, thick shreds.

Xena wiped at her cheek, only managing to further smear the streak of blood.

"Well," she said, "now we know a god is involved."

"Xena," Ares cut in, "he's got one of the pebbles." He motioned sullenly to Hercules.

Hercules looked at him, then the corpses on the ground, and said, "Someone want to fill me in?"

* * *

Hercules splashed water on his face to get rid of the last of the blood, ignoring the heavy glare directed at his back.

"No one's impressed, _hero_," Ares finally spat. "Xena and I could easily have gotten that guy without you."

"I know."

"We don't need you here. Xena and I have everything under control."

Hercules gave him a strange look as he bent to pick up his shirt, and Ares snorted derisively. "She doesn't need you at all, little brother. Not like she needed me."

"Right. I'm sure that's why she left you all those years ago."

Hands clenched in his shirt and dragged until Hercules' eyes crossed trying to keep Ares in view.

"You useless little prick! Why?" A pebble appeared over Hercules' head when Ares grabbed him, and it quickly shattered and settled over Ares, but the raging wargod didn't notice. "Why is everything so easy for you? Zeus was _my_ father long before you came into the picture! This world was _our_ world, the people were _our_ servants, but you just bumble along doing obnoxious little good deeds, and they _like_ you! _Why?_" His voice had been steadily rising as he spoke until Hercules winced at the volume. "And now, I have Xena helping me and telling me that she's my friend like it's so hard to say for her, and you just come along, and she smiles at _you_! And I'm just… I'm…"

Hercules' voice was so soft that he barely heard it. "You're what?"

"Forget it," Ares said, letting go of his half-brother and stepping back. "Just leave, Hercules."

"I'm sorry," Hercules said, finally.

Ares scowled at him. "I don't need your pity!"

"Yeah, yeah." Hercules looked away and said in a carefully absent-minded voice, "You know, if you told what you told me to more people, they'd like you, too. You don't always have to hide how you feel. Or take it out on people."

"I'm the God of War." There was a pause as Ares' head caught up to his mouth. "I don't do nice," he continued.

"Hmm. I see you got more of your memory back. Xena told me you didn't remember about being a god."

Ares scoffed, refusing to look at him.

"And about Xena—"

"Shut up, I don't want your advice."

"She needs to know she can trust you."

"I said—"

"And it has to be unconditional. I think you can do it."

Hercules slid a thumb into his belt, determined to wait out the silence. Some time passed before Ares spoke, eyes finally meeting his.

"Whatever, Hercules."

"Right."

"Just because we're talking, it doesn't mean we're bonding."

"Right. No bondage at all."

TBC


	64. Courage

64. **Courage**  
24 May 2007  
X/A – Part 4 of the Pebbles arc. Some language. I got a bit excited...

* * *

Xena let her eyes wander over the fire to take her mind off the pain in her arm as Gabrielle bent over it, making tiny neat stitches. She caught sight of Ares' pale face, eyes fixed on the needle in Gabrielle's hands.

"What," she said, "don't tell me you've never seen anyone being sewn up before?"

"No," he snapped, "I haven't."

"It's not as bad as it looks. Keep your needles sharp, and they'll slide through the skin like butter. The unpleasant part is probably the feeling of the twine dragging through—"

Ares disappeared in an abrupt blue flash.

Gabrielle caught her eye, and they shared a laugh.

"We must be getting close," Xena said eventually, holding still while Gabrielle tied off the last knot and bent her head to bite through the excess fine twine. "They've stopped watching us and launched a full offensive. They must be trying to tire us out with the attacks."

"Why have they only sent parties of five or less? Wouldn't it be easier for them to just charge us all at once?"

A smelly salve was applied to the wound, and Xena hissed at the sudden burning. "My guess is whoever's sending them can't attract too much attention. It has to be a god. No humans would have been able to track us like this."

"It's working, though." Gabrielle couldn't hide the edge of worry in her voice. "You haven't slept for more than three hours at a time for four days now. You're getting tired."

Xena gave her a fond smile. "Didn't you say at some point that I thrive under these kinds of situations?"

"It's not healthy."

"Yeah." Xena waited patiently while Gabrielle pulled the bandage wrapped around her bicep tighter and tied it off. "That's why were making our own move now." She raised her voice. "Hey, Ares!"

He didn't reply, but she felt his sulking presence nearby. She began assembling her armour, hooking up her breastplate and shoving on gauntlets. She picked up an armband, looked at her bandaged arm, and sighed, tucking it into a pouch.

Ares appeared now, scowling with impatience. "Well?"

She tossed her chakram up into the air with a flourish and let it clang onto its hook on her belt. Behind her, Gabrielle snorted and mumbled something resembling "show-off."

"Let's go," Xena said.

* * *

"Xena, I swear we're going in circles!" Ares' voice had an edge to it that he'd vehemently deny was a whine. "Was that your big plan? Dangle me around like bait?"

She shot him an irritated look. "I've been leaving trails throughout this whole area. If we're going to draw them into a decisive fight, I'd rather it be in territory that I'm familiar with and that's far enough from any settlements that there's no risk of involving innocent people. So yes, you're bait."

"You're going to _fight_ them? All of them?"

"We've been heading toward an abandoned fort that my army used as a base. The three of us could hold off an army in there."

"An army. Just the three of us."

"We wouldn't have to do this if you remembered who gave you the bloody water in the first place."

"Are you _blaming_ me?"

"Xena, Ares…" Gabrielle tried.

"I'm sick of doing this, okay? It's been weeks, and we've only got four of those fucking pebbles. I can't even tell where the next one is. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life fighting these people? They obviously just want to stop us from finding the rest of the pebbles. It would be so much easier to just leave everything as it is and just stop trying."

"Why are you so pissed off? You're immortal."

"There are things that can kill a god."

Xena stared at him for a moment, and said, "I've called you many things, but a coward was never one of them. We need to find the rest of the pebbles. You're not the Ares I knew."

"When has this been about you?"

Xena scowled, hurt tainting her eyes, and her hand shot out reflexively and snatched an arrow out of the air inches from Ares' neck.

Gabrielle knocked away the next one with her sais. "I've been trying to tell that you we're being followed."

Xena looked at the smear of red across the arrowhead. "Shit," she said.

They were attacked then, and Xena saw the same red stain on the blades angled toward them.

"Ares! Be careful."

He'd seen the same weapons. His hand hesitated on the hilt of his sword, and then fell away. "Fuck this," he said. "I'm not doing this anymore."

Xena watched in disbelief as he raised his hand, the familiar blue glow beginning to envelop him, and an arrow thudded into his arm. He looked down at it, confused expression on his face, and collapsed.

"Ares!"

Xena swung a charging soldier into another, sending the two crashing to the ground, and quickly spun to deflect a thrust aimed at Ares' crumpled form. A heavy kick pushed back a couple more, but when she looked around, sunlight glinted off the wall of metal closing in.

Sparkles erupted behind her, and Xena spared a relieved glance. "Aphrodite, you got my message!"

The goddess cringed as a lance speared over her head, but nodded. "I brought the antidote."

"Can you transport us?"

Moments later, they stood in the gloom of the abandoned fort Xena had outfitted to survive a siege.

She quickly bent to inspect Ares' wound. "I didn't think he would refuse to fight like that," she muttered.

"It's okay," said Aphrodite. "We got to him in time. He'll be a bit weak, but he won't die." She winced, watching Xena yank the shaft out after snapping the arrowhead. The flesh pulled together, already healing, albeit sluggishly.

"Where's Hercules?"

Aphrodite looked up from splashing the wound with liquid in a small vial. "He said to tell you he was sorry he couldn't make it back, but Iolaus sent him an urgent message asking for help."

"Ok. Stay here with him, Aphrodite."

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"To finish this fight. Coming, Gabrielle?"

Gabrielle looked up from her station near a narrow slit of a window. "Right behind you," she said.

* * *

_I can't believe he was going to leave us surrounded by the enemy_, Xena seethed, swinging her sword over her head to cut a concealed rope and drop four soldiers into a pit lined with sharpened stakes. Some had fallen over in the years of disuse, but most remained to render the trap deadly as ever.

_The asshole._

Another cut, and a huge log swung free amid a chorus of screams.

_The little fucker._

She didn't see the club until blood trickled into her eyes, and she struggled to pick herself up off the ground.

* * *

Aphrodite smiled brightly when Ares opened his eyes. "Aer! Welcome to the land of the living, bro!"

His eyes focussed somewhere through her. "Xena," he rasped, and staggered to his feet.

"Wait! Warrior babe said to stay here!"

He looked down at his hands, trembling while they clenched in the material of the winter cloak Xena had tossed at him nearly three weeks ago. "I… don't think I have a choice," he said, reaching for the door.

"You can't even fight like that!"

He glanced back at her, eyes narrowed into slits and sweat running down his face. "Don't tell me what I can't do."

* * *

Her vision was spinning, and she looked up at the wavering five figures that lifted their heavy clubs with a roar.

They resolved into a single soldier, and the roar was drowned out by an even louder one accompanying a burst of flame that enveloped him and singed the air.

She watched Ares skid to a halt beside her, squinting with effort as he looked around at the men surrounding them. Raising his arms, he released a barrage of fireballs. He looked up at a hail of arrows, and his teeth were bared in a snarl as he sniped them out of the air with answering flames.

He was blindly intent on those attacking from the front, Xena realized, pushing herself to her feet and launching herself at a man trying to sneak up behind the wargod.

_I've got your back._

* * *

Aphrodite peeked out of the fort when Gabrielle stormed up and delivered a fierce verbal attack on Ares for nearly hitting her with his fireballs, and Ares told her with a scoff that real warriors could have dodged easily.

Xena stopped Gabrielle from stabbing him with her sai, and Aphrodite flung her arms around her brother's neck with tears in her eyes.

"Owww," Ares howled. "Watch the arm!"

There was a muted flash from Aphrodite's hand, and she opened it to reveal a pebble that was more light than dark in its pattern. It rolled off her hand, and Xena caught it and peered at it.

"Courage," she said softly. She met Ares' eyes, and held it out to him. She didn't say _you earned it_.

She gestured at his arm when he took the stone. "Looks like that'll leave a scar."

"Really? He looked down at the shiny, still red patch. "My first one. Impressive, huh?"

Xena attempted to hide a smile. "Very."

He didn't say _I know. Thanks._


	65. Ambition

65. **Ambition**  
10 June 2007  
X/A – Part 5 of the Pebbles arc.

* * *

It was… different.

Xena walked back toward their camp for the night without the sound of bickering guiding her to her destination, and the difference struck her again. Oh gods, she was going soft. Ares had only returned to his duties as the god of war the previous day. She couldn't be missing him.

She heard the familiar sound of ripping air, and her chest jolted.

"There's something wrong with Aer," Aphrodite's voice whined, and Gabrielle spun to face the goddess.

"Don't sneak up like that!"

Xena hoped she didn't look embarrassed. "What do you mean?" Given the circumstances, it had been perfectly reasonable to assume that the newcomer was Ares. "What did he do?"

"That's the problem! He isn't doing anything! Daddy's getting mad 'cause big bro's totally lazing around all day!"

"You mean he's not out starting mindless bloody wars?"

Aphrodite gave Xena a look. "You of all people should know that that's not what it's about," she said.

Xena looked away first. "Yeah," she said. "Sorry."

"No problemo, warrior babe. Can you come talk to Aer?"

"Yeah, just let me get—"

Aphrodite's golden sparkles appeared around them.

"Never mind." Xena glanced around the marble halls of Olympus and asked, "Where's Argo?"

"Oh, she's in the stables."

"You have stables?"

"Duh! Where else would we keep Peggie?"

"Pegasus?" Gabrielle's eyes sparkled.

"Yeah! He's huge and horsey, but still. Wanna see?"

"I'd love to."

"Hey!" Xena watched her companions disappear. She sighed and set off down the hall. "Gods," she grumbled.

* * *

It must have been the biggest, most brightly-lit space she'd ever seen. A long table surrounded by a forest of chairs stretched off into the distance, and on a dais at the near end of the room sat another table, this one equipped with only twelve seats.

A young man standing by the head of the higher table and holding a pitcher gave her a disinterested look before turning his attention back to the sole occupant of that table.

It was a well known fact that the act of observation changes that which is being observed, but Xena privately believed that perhaps the greater change occurred in the observer. If culture could pass from one generation to the next through stories and customs, then gods could catch humanity by watching.

Right now, Zeus, with his shock of silver hair and sullen glare at the stack of scrolls before him, looked exhausted.

Xena cleared her throat, and it echoed loudly in the empty space.

Zeus looked up and stared blankly at her. Then he blinked. "Ah, you're the one we sent Ares to."

"Yes, Aphrodite brought me here." She nodded at the parchment he was currently holding. "That's one of Ares' contracts, isn't it?"

"You know about them?"

"He showed me when I was younger."

Zeus sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "He's not honouring any of them. He's not even _looking_ at them."

"Can't someone else do this while we finish finding the rest of his memories?"

"Athena, but…" Zeus tossed the scroll back to the table, and it snapped shut. "She can't be found. Besides, half of this seems to be private code. It looks like gibberish." He shot her a sharp look. "You can read it, can't you?"

"Yeah, I'll do it," Xena said.

* * *

Someone walked in front of his viewing portal and stopped, forcing Ares to crane his neck to try to see around the barrier.

"Ares…" a voice growled.

He grunted, shuffling over to the side in an attempt to see. Something rapped him on the forehead, and looked up at Xena. "Hey!"

"You little _twit_," Xena snapped, slamming the scrolls in her hands down onto the table beside him and knocking off his nectar goblet. "I go to all the trouble of helping you with your problems, and all you do is sit around watching naked athletes trying to pin each other?"

"But—"

"You're worrying Aphrodite, your father is exhausted from trying to take in your workload, and you've abandoned all the people who are depending on you in the battles you're supposed to taking care of."

"I thought you hated war."

Xena gave an exasperated scoff. "I'm a warrior, Ares. I hated the stupid fights you started just to get my attention." She lowered her head to look up at him from beneath drawn-together eyebrows in a clear attempt to imitate his persuasive look. "'I just sent a psychopath after you and your family, but hey, come be my warrior queen.' How was I supposed to react? But these are people, soldiers, who are fighting for their families and their land, and they _need_ something to believe in, and even if he's a bastard of a god, he's still _their_ god. So shut up, and get up."

Ares obeyed, shuffling under the glare still trained on him.

"Alright," Xena said. "I've already done the paperwork—tedious stuff. How do you generally send it off to your subordinates?"

"Oh, just dump it on Strife. He does the delivering."

"Fine," Xena said. "Let's go, then."

* * *

Ares listened with a bored frown while some overawed commander prattled on about glory and courage. It wasn't until he stood at the edge of an overhang with Xena, looking down at the figures splashed in red that he heard the prayers.

They weren't words, mostly. They were hopes, fragments of thoughts, desperate rushes of blood through veins when confronted with unfriendly colours, and the scramble to stay alive. They flooded through him until he couldn't remember where he began and they ended.

"Go, if you want." Xena's voice was accompanied by a brush was warm breath over his neck, and he felt his hair stand on end. Without a backward glance, he jumped down toward the battlefield.

He moved very well, Xena thought, enjoying the rare luxury of sitting back to watch him fight. He moved with practiced ease, all skill and rough strength, and it was probably some instinctive sense of honour that prevented him from ever using his powers. It wasn't as if he needed them.

She grinned as she watched him use a comrade's grip to swing himself up into a hard kick to an attacker's face, a trick he had obviously borrowed from Hercules unintentionally. He always communicated well without a spoken word on the battlefield.

She looked up at Zeus' arrival. Ares chose that moment to give a vigorous yell in conjunction with a particularly vicious attack on a defensive cluster of soldiers, and she found herself smiling sheepishly.

"I see he's enjoying himself," Zeus said dryly. "I suppose that's a good thing. I'm surprised, though. I couldn't get him to leave his chambers."

"Ah," Xena said.

When it became clear that she wasn't going to offer any more information, Zeus laughed. "Ah, then. Well done. If you'll do me one more favour," he said, reaching out a hand to her and opening it to reveal a pebble with its shifting patterns roiling sluggishly, "I'll leave this with you."

She inclined her head respectfully as the king of the gods vanished and turned her attention back to the battle. Knots of skirmishes littered the field, and she quickly found Ares. He'd clearly coordinated some sort of attack on his current opponents with several nearby comrades, Xena noticed, watching them move purposefully, pushing the enemy back. A soldier beside him was knocked to the ground, and his helmet clattered off, revealing curly blond hair and a boy who couldn't have been more than sixteen.

Xena's fists clenched as the boy's opponent moved to drive his sword down in a finishing blow, and sparks flew when Ares' sword blocked the downward stroke with a clang audible even from her distance. He shoved his sword forward, keeping contact with the other blade until it wedged into the place where the crossguard met the blade. A twist of his wrist, and Ares sent the other sword spinning. Another twist, and he sent his weapon into an upward slash that sliced deep into the enemy's torso.

He let the others rush past him now, and looked up at her. A flash, and he was beside her, euphoria glittering in his eyes.

"Why did you save that boy?" Xena asked softly.

Cries of "for Ares!" drifted up from the battlefield, barely heard over the clang of metal and the screams of injured horses.

He looked at her and said, "Why do you help the people that you do?"

"Because someone has to."

He looked at her now with a grin that seemed to say "exactly."

"He might still die today."

"But not right now."

Xena felt a rush of something unidentifiable her chest, sharp so that it hurt but warm at the same time. She held out the pebble to him.

When the dust had settled into his skin, he looked at her with a lopsided smile and said, "What, I had to pass a test before you'd give that to me?"

She shrugged, an answering smile on her lips. "Maybe," she said, noticing that she was drawing closer to him, and that feeling in her chest was increasing in response. A drifting, detached thought informed her that her pulse was increasing. Explains the light-headedness, she thought, tilting her head up.

"Ack! Sorry!" a shrill, nervous voice sounded behind her, and she swung around to see Strife. Cringing under the twin glares, the little god shoved a scroll into Ares' hand before vanishing with another "Sorry!"

"It's from Athena," Ares said, a confused frown on his face as he broke the seal. "Dear brother," he read. "I must commend you, a rare occasion, for the admittedly brilliant strategy you deployed today in our long-standing battle. I look forward to further engagements. Athena."

He stared at the scroll. "I didn't…" He trailed off and his eyes shot up to Xena's. "Did you do this?"

She nodded. "I thought your general could do with some tips. He sent a request with the paperwork today." She frowned. "What?"

His scowl was thunderous. "I thought I told you never to interfere with me and Athena. I thought I told you it was personal."

Xena stared at him. "I just thought you could use some help to win—"

"It's not about winning!"

"What? I was just—"

He cut her off with an abrupt jerk of his hand. "Whatever, Xena," he said, turning and vanishing.

_To be continued._


	66. Stepping Stones

66. **Stepping Stones**  
14 June 2007  
X/A – Part 6 of the Pebbles arc.

* * *

Gabrielle pulled her pillow over her face, trying to block out the sounds of Xena shifting restlessly beside her, or at least to smother herself. 

When the sounds continued, Gabrielle reached over to smack Xena with her pillow.

"Ow!"

Gabrielle sighed and rolled over to face her. "Look, I don't see why you can't just go find him and _tell_ him."

"Tell him what? Stand there with a stupid blush on my face and say 'Um… I like you'?"

"It does sound pretty prepubescent now that I think of it."

There was a groan in the darkness. "Gabrielle," Xena said, her voice muffled from whatever she'd covered her face with, "why do I always pick the difficult ones?"

"You'd be bored stiff otherwise." There was a pause. "Hey, did you just call me difficult?"

She heard a faint snicker and groped for her pillow.

A blaze of white light illuminated the night, and the two warriors squinted through the afterimages at the figure that appeared.

"Callisto?"

The angel reached out and tugged Xena up and off her bedding, into which an arrow thudded moments later.

"Xena! Gabrielle!"

Another arrow whizzed past Xena's head, and she pulled Callisto into a crouch. "Gabrielle, that sounded like Hercules," she hissed. "I'll take Callisto to cover. You do the same with Hercules, alright?"

Gabrielle nodded and crept off.

Xena half-dragged Callisto into the forest before stopping to peer out from behind a tree.

"Come, Xena," said Callisto's sweet voice. "I know where it's safe."

"No, we're going to wait for Gabrielle and Hercules." She shot the softly-glowing angel a glare. "I don't trust you."

The beatific smile never changed. "I would be more hurt, Xena…" She paused to shrug, and Xena's vision swam alarmingly. "… If I were Callisto."

Shit, Xena thought as she pitched forward.

* * *

Gabrielle and Hercules pushed their way through the forest. 

"How can Xena just get abducted?" Hercules said, shoving another branch to the side. "She's _Xena_."

"Complaining isn't helping," Gabrielle snapped.

A thick bundle of leaves crashed to the ground at a vicious hack from Gabrielle's sais.

"Hey," Hercules said. "Don't worry. We'll get her back."

Gabrielle huffed. "I know. She's probably giving Discord a lot of grief right now. But…"

"I know how you feel." Hercules paused. "Gabrielle, I'm sorry. When you were questioning that man, I shouldn't have assumed…"

"Don't apologize. If Xena had actually been hurt, I don't know what I would have done."

Hercules gave a forced laugh. "Gabrielle, I know you wouldn't—"

"No," Gabrielle interrupted, "_you_ wouldn't. That's the difference between you and me."

They walked in silence as Aphrodite's temple appeared in the distance.

* * *

Xena crouched behind the heavy drapes of a high window, and she let out a small snicker as she listened to the frantic dashing beneath her. 

"How could you lose her already?" Discord's voice screeched.

Gods bless idiots who try to imprison her somewhere without taking her weapons off her.

There was some more running, and a breathless lackey reported that she wasn't in some other room she'd never heard of. Xena had always been good at hide-and-seek when she was a child. They tried all the customary small spaces and under the beds, but the other children never thought to look _up_.

"I thought you said she wouldn't wake up for at least half a day if I used that spell on her!" Discord again.

"That is the effect on mortals, yes, but I suppose I should have anticipated difficulties with Xena."

Xena frowned. The second voice was familiar, that of a woman not only used to commanding, but having her commands obeyed. She sounded far too sharp for Xena to risk twitching the drapery aside for a look.

"What are we going to do about her?" Discord was whining.

"You are a god, Discord," the other woman snapped. "Act like one."

It sounded like an exit line, and Xena moved to pull at the drapes at the sound of a god's departure, but froze when she heard Discord's voice continue speaking. Moments later, she rolled her eyes when she realized that Discord was muttering to herself.

"—ing meddling warrior bitch… It took forever to get Ares to drink that water without getting him all suspicious and ass-whooping…"

Xena felt as if a cold, gaping chasm had opened up in her chest and rapidly expanded until her ears were ringing and the hairs prickled at the back of her neck. The next thing she knew, she was standing behind Discord with her hand on the goddess's nape, and the thud of Discord's head hitting the table she had been sitting at was fading into the echoes.

"Ow! Fuck!" Discord yelped, trying to twist around to see what was holding her down.

"You gave Ares the water?" a voice said softly beside Discord's ear, and she found herself shivering.

"What are you so pissy about?" Discord finally tugged free and glared up at Xena. "He's fine, isn't he?"

"He would have died if Mnemosyne hadn't found him in time," Xena growled.

Discord's eyes widened. "What?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you did something as monumentally stupid as giving him something you didn't know the effect of?"

Discord cringed as Xena's hand dropped to her chakram. "Wait wait! You can't do anything to me anyway! I'm a god!"

Xena stepped forward. "I may not be able to kill gods, but I can definitely ensure that you spend the rest of eternity in small pieces."

The goddess squeaked and tripped over her chair, scrambling up amid rising sparkles.

"Aphrodite! Don't let her leave!"

Aphrodite blinked, disoriented after transporting herself, Gabrielle, and Hercules moments ago, and watched Discord vanish. Her mouth opened in a small "oh," and she disappeared after the fleeing goddess.

Xena's knees buckled, and she grabbed at the table at which Discord had been sitting just as Hercules's strong hands wrapped around her shoulders. He and Gabrielle helped her into a seat.

"Are you hurt?" Gabrielle asked.

"No, just kind of woozy. Discord knocked me out with some magic spell."

There was a whoosh of air, and Aphrodite leaned down with a frown. "Sorry, Warrior Babe, she got away."

Xena shook her head. "It's alright; we've got bigger fish to fry."

"Yeah," Hercules said. "If I know anything about Discord, I know that she's always the pawn."

"So we have to find the queen?" Gabrielle said thoughtfully. Her eyes widened. "You don't think that Hera…"

Xena shook her head. "Doubt it. She adores Ares." She grimaced. "Really dizzy now…"

Hercules caught her before she fell out of the chair.

* * *

It was dark when Xena woke up. 

"Hey." A cup of water appeared before her face, and she rubbed her eyes groggily as she reached out and took it. Gabrielle gave her a small smile. "You had us worried for a while there."

"I'm fine, Gabrielle."

"You sure?"

"Well, no. Scratch that. I'm starving."

Gabrielle snorted and pointed toward the long table across the room.

Xena ate quietly until she couldn't ignore the eyes boring into her neck anymore. She turned to meet Aphrodite's calculating stare. "Yes?" she said cautiously.

Aphrodite's pretty blue eyes narrowed in a way that sent shots of dread down Xena's spine. "So," Aphrodite said, a smug smile on her lips, "you and Aer…"

Xena let her head fall into her hands. "There's nothing to talk about. Nothing's happened."

The smile widened into something Xena had last seen on something with whiskers and claws. "But you _want_ something to happen."

"Even if I did, I'd still handle it my way." She shot Hercules a glare. "What are you grinning about?"

Hercules turned back to his own food with a cough that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"But, Xena—"

"Aphrodite! Look, there's absolutely nothing to discuss. I haven't even seen him in three days."

"Aww… You had a fight?"

That gave Xena pause. "Well, I think so. I don't know. There was something about Athena, and then he stomped off."

"Ah, yeah. He's always been like that about Athena. Out of our entire family, she's probably the closest one to him. She's the one he respects the most, and he depends on their rivalry to measure and improve himself." Aphrodite looked around in the sudden silence, and huffed, "Hey, I'm like the relationship guru, right? That's all kinds of relationships!"

"What about Athena? Does she feel the same way about Ares?"

Aphrodite frowned. "Hard to say. Aer's always been more open with his emotions, right? I mean, he's too macho to say anything, but he just can't hide the way he feels with the way he acts." She tapped a perfect nail against her chin. "Hey, you know, Athena did something weird at the meeting of the Twelve after Ares got all de-memorified. She insisted that it was too dangerous to send Aer to you to get fixed up, and it'd be better to keep him holed up at home. Which is funny 'cause anyone who knows anything about Aer would know he'd be miserable like that, vegetable or not…" She looked up at the warrior pulling on her armour and attaching her weapons hastily. "Xena?"

"Can you take me somewhere, Aphrodite? There's something I want to see."

* * *

Xena opted for the direct approach and flung open the doors of Athena's chambers on Olympus, only to be greeted with a sword trained on her throat. 

"Xena," a dark-haired woman in silver armour greeted.

"You have the advantage of me," she replied calmly.

"Ilainus of Mycenae, at your service."

"Charmed. And now that we've covered the pleasantries, move."

Ilainus's lips quirked. "Regrettably, I cannot."

"Well, I tried."

There was a scrape of metal as Xena's chakram shoved the sword to a side, and her other hand rose to land a blow to the solar plexus. Ilainus staggered back and gasped for breath, her sword maintaining a defensive position while watching Xena draw her own blade.

She dodged Xena's next attack with ease before stepping forward with a thrust that Xena quickly parried. Keeping the blades locked together, she shoved forward and sliced into the skin just under Xena's chin. Xena hissed and knocked her weapon aside, ducking under another swing and stepping out of reach.

Xena touched the cut and glanced down at her hand before twisting her mouth into her most condescending smirk. She shrugged, flicking the blood of her fingertips and drawled, "Not bad."

"Ha," Ilainus said and launched another attack.

She _was_ pretty good, Xena admitted to herself as they sparred, but she was a ranged fighter, not quite as experienced with the sword. She was evidently unaware that her eyes betrayed her next movements. Xena grabbed her sword arm and swung her into a pedestal, but she was able to duck Xena's quick swing that shattered the urn sitting on the stand.

Shards of pottery rained on Ilainus's shoulders and cut into her arms as she rolled away, her leg scything out to slam into Xena's side while still in a crouch.

Xena grunted, but her hands clamped on Ilainus's leg, holding it still as her knee rose and connected with the side of the shin with an audible crack. Ilainus cried out in pain, slashing at Xena instinctively, but Xena let go and ducked, picking up her sword in the middle of a half-roll, half-lunge. The lack of support shifted Ilainus's weight onto her broken leg, and she collapsed onto the floor.

She looked up with a pained snarl to see the hilt of Xena's sword descending toward her head.

Xena quickly tied Ilainus's hands behind her back with a decorative cord she found near a window and hauled the barely conscious woman into a sitting position, propping her up against a wall. She straightened, a sigh on her lips, and went to retrieve her chakram. Dammit, shallow cuts on the neck stung like Hades.

She was hooking the chakram back on her waist when she heard the sound of a god's arrival. She swung around, chakram held at neck height, and looked into Ares' surprised eyes.

"Whoa. Are you that mad at me?"

Xena dropped her arm with a muttered "sorry," and knelt down to examine Ilainus's leg. Satisfied that it was only a crack, she began to splint it with Ilainus's scabbard.

Ares cleared his throat awkwardly. "I was looking for you," he said. "I wanted… I guess…" He trailed off helplessly.

"Now's not really a good time," Xena said distractedly, pulling the makeshift bandages tight around Ilainus's leg.

He winced. "Xena…"

She surveyed her handiwork and stood, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry, okay? I overreacted. I've just… I mean, I didn't mean—" He took in a sharp breath of air when she turned around with a scowl on her face and pushed her hands into his hair, and all brain function ceased when she tugged him down and covered his mouth with hers.

He stared at her blankly when she let him go and watched as she pulled Ilainus up. She frowned as if preoccupied before turning her head sharply to look at him. "There's something I need to do," she said. "Do me a favour and stay right here? Don't come in until I say."

He continued watching her as she hauled Ilainus down the hall, but the smile had begun spreading over his face by the time she reached the doors at the other end.

* * *

Athena looked up with a smile. "Xena," she said. "How good of you to drop by." 

"Athena." Xena inclined her head. She watched Athena's eyes shoot to Ilainus as she let the woman sink to the ground. "I see you were expecting me."

There was a flicker of worry when Ilainus groaned softly, but the goddess maintained her friendly smile. "Youthful high spirits, I suppose. What can I do for you?"

"As you know," Xena said stiffly, "I'm investigating Ares' case."

"Yes, and I'd be glad to be of assistance."

"Glad to hear it. When did you steal the water from Mnemosyne's temple?"

Xena mentally applauded Athena's innocently confused face.

"I stole water from Mnemosyne?"

Xena pulled a blood-stained dagger from her belt, reaching down to slip an identical one from the holster on Ilainus's boot. "So your friend here didn't drop this at Mnemosyne's temple?"

Athena's eyes narrowed now. "Am I not allowed to simply visit Mnemosyne without being placed under suspicion?"

"It's called circumstantial evidence, I believe."

"Xena, this is ridiculous. I've always considered you a wise woman."

"What did you hope to gain from Ares' disposal?"

Athena stood now, a scowl on her face. "I've humoured your wild claims, Xena, but even my patience has its limits. Now, if you'd please, I have work to do."

Her eyes widened in shock as Xena reached into a small pouch on her belt, pulled out a large round pendant filled with dark red fluid, and dangled it in front of her face. "How dare you enter my private chambers!" Athena said, surprise overriding her caution. "Not even a god is able to pass my wards—"

"I know. That's why this is a fake. I see you recognize it, though."

Athena's mouth snapped shut, and her expression darkened. "You can't prove anything, Xena. Your so-called evidence is flimsy at best, and in some cases," —she ripped the pendant from Xena's hands and quickly crushed it to dust— "utterly fraudulent."

Xena grinned cheerfully, enjoying the way Athena's scowl deepened. "Yes, it is. That's why I was hoping you'd save us a lot of trouble and confess."

"To you?"

"No," Xena said, pointing to Ares, "to him."

Ares stepped forward, noticing the flash of panic in Athena's eyes before her face closed up. "Athena?" he said.

His sister was silent.

"Well?"

More silence.

Ares turned to Xena. "What in Tartarus, Xena? This is—"

"I _hate_ you."

Ares blinked at the venom in Athena's voice.

"You fuck around, doing whatever you feel like, and you act like you're justified, like your 'job' is a burden. You're a selfish bastard who's only heir due to an accident of birth. You're completely irresponsible and shallow. I hate you." Her glare turned to Xena. "And her. How does someone like _you_ warrant the loyalty of someone like her? I was _watching_ you. You gave up. I would have won if it wasn't for her—"

"It isn't loyalty, Athena," Ares interrupted. "It's friendship." He shrugged. "And I don't know. That's who I am. I can't make excuses for that. That's the way I am, but Xena's here anyway."

"Spare me, Ares." A mocking sneer twisted her face. "You've won. Are you going to run and tell _daddy_?"

"No," Ares said, puzzlement tingeing his voice. "What for?"

Athena opened her mouth, closed it again, and searched for a coherent response. She eventually settled on "What?"

"It was… fun. Dad would take it way too seriously."

"I nearly had you killed," Athena spoke slowly, as if prodding a loose tooth.

"I'm not dead."

Athena stared at him.

"I think I've… learned some things, too." He looked away with a low growl. "Look, I'm not good at this sappy talk. We've always communicated best through fighting."

Xena smiled dryly when Athena looked at her. "He surprises me sometimes."

"Now if you'll excuse us, I've some business with Xena." His eyebrows lifted suggestively, and Athena grimaced.

"I don't need to know these things, brother." She realized what just happened and pinned Ares with an appraising look, but he simply gave her a dumb grin and left with Xena.

Stupid Ares.

Stupid brother.

* * *

"Hey," Gabrielle greeted. "Go alright?" 

"Yeah," Xena said. "No more people trying to kill us. For now."

"Works for me." She gave them a grin that contained far too much enjoyment for Xena's comfort. "I see you, uh, found Ares."

Xena settled into her best poker face, but it didn't deter her friends.

"So, Gabrielle," Hercules said, and she could hear laughter in his voice. "I saw this _gorgeous_ tree back there along the road."

"Did you?" Gabrielle returned with manic cheerfulness. "I think I've definitely got to see it!"

"Of course. I'd love to show you."

"So, Xena, Ares, we're going to have to leave you alone for a while. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh shut up," Xena said.

"I know you'll miss us, but really, I just can't live my life to its full extent without seeing this tree."

"Get lost, Gabrielle."

They started laughing well within earshot.

"Xena," Ares started.

She looked him over. "Still missing any pebbles?"

He blinked as if he'd forgotten. "Oh." He frowned. "Yeah. One."

"Can you tell where it is?"

"Yeah." He took her hand and waited through the familiar blaze of light. When it faded, he looked at it with a distinctly uncomfortable expression. "Love," he announced.

"Huh. Predictable and sappy."

He looked at her for a moment, surprised, but then the corners of her eyes crinkled in a smile and her fingers tightened around his. He laughed, picked up the pebble, and flung it away.

"Hey!" Xena said.

"I don't need a stupid piece of rock to tell me something like that."

And he kissed her softly.

* * *

The end. Fini. No more Pebbles. 


End file.
